ZSyndrome
by Araceil
Summary: A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.
1. E1: Beginning of the Dead

_I do not own Highschool of the Dead, nor do I own Harry Potter, both are the respective properties of those who created, drew and published them. This story and all listed Original characters are mine, please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. With that said – please enjoy the story and share your thoughts and opinions with me._

Summary: A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.

Komuro Takashi / Busujima Saeko – as I find Rei exceptionally annoying in canon. She will receive some suitable character development into not such an irritating character.

Hirano Kohta / Takagi Saya – adorable pairing, Princess and the Knight, rather old fashioned in a new age. I adore them, regardless of Takagi being a somewhat overbearing character she's one of my favs.

Harry Potter / OMC, or, if I happen to like the developed Rei, I might see myself to pairing him with her. Its a slim possibility though, please don't get your hopes up. I may not even pair Harry at all depending on how the story progresses.

* * *

EPISODE ONE – Beginning of the Dead

_By Araceil_

* * *

The night before the world ended, we got into an argument. My family and I.

It got really out of hand, more than it usually does. My Uncle and I have never seen eye to eye, nor have we ever gotten along or exchanged even the vaguest of pleasantries. We hate each other. Him through my parents and me from the abuse I experienced throughout my life ever since I was dumped on their doorstep Halloween Night, after my mum and dad were murdered. That wouldn't be much of a problem in all honesty, I can lie and fake my emotions like the best of them and my Uncle would rather avoid me these days.

The issue is that we both have rather explosive tempers and know the other's buttons entirely too well for things not to degenerate into violence.

When you add my cousin into the mix, who will always take his father's side, large and tightly packed muscle even at sixteen from spending the last two years as a Junior Lightweight Boxer, things just got messy. My Uncle is a large man, blustery and prone to violence and raising his voice. My cousin is the opposite, while being muscular and large, he prefers to get straight to the violence and leave the shouting for later. Me on the otherhand... I'm no stranger to standing up for myself. I'm small and thin and weak looking, people tend to think I'd make an easy target, they soon learn better.

Vernon slapped me hard enough to throw me into a wall though and it just hit that breaking point.

My Aunt was screaming, my Uncle was shouting, my cousin was baring down on me, fists raised. I rolled to the side, hopping back onto my feet and glaring at them.

"Enough! Fuck you!" I shouted, "Enough! I'm outta here. I taking my stuff and I'm leaving." And I did. I grabbed my backpack which had all my clothes in, a few toiletries, my wallet and phone plus a little Japanese phrase book I had bought before coming on the trip, before leaving the Hotel Room. I didn't hear a peep out of my family until the door closed behind me – that was when Uncle exploded into action and started shouting at me to come back and listen to him.

I kept my mouth shut and kept walking, ignoring the curious Tourists and businessmen who peered out of the Hotel Rooms to find out what all the racket at 11.30 at night was about. Uncle flushed an ugly colour and watched me leave with mutinous eyes, he was expecting me to come back but I was more than happy to disappoint him as I walked into the streets and paused, frowning at the alarming lack of people.

When both my cousin and I had passed our GCSEs, it was decided that we would all go on Holiday to a country of Dudley's choice. Originally, I wasn't supposed to come along, but Mrs Figg, my babysitter, had been mugged earlier in the week – she was still in hospital with stab wounds which she could thank Dudley's bestfriend Piers for. So happy day, I got to come along for the ride. And carry all the bags. I don't know what Dudley was expecting when he decided on Japan, maybe he had heard something about Ninjas and Samurai or possibly he was expecting magical schoolgirls who's skirts flew up to give all and sundry an eyeful whenever she lifted a leg. Eitherway, by the time we arrived, he was bitching about how they should have gone to America where there was decent food.

He ended up eating a Wasabi pellet from the free-snack packets which Japan Air gave out. He wasn't happy.

We had gone over during Spring after both Dudley and I had started College, out of the Tourist season with their insanely inflated airline prices, it didn't work out so well but Petunia wasn't complaining when she found out we would be arriving in time for one of Japan's most traditional and _aristocratic_ festivals – the Hanami, when nobles and poets would gather to view the Cherryblossoms. They had been in Japan for three days until the End, visited several of the Touristy locations, watched a traditional Tea Ceremony under the Cherryblossoms, visited the Golden Pavilion – which resulted in Dudley getting them thrown out when he went to try and steal a piece of it, they went to Nara where Petunia nearly had a heart attack when one of the wild-yet-tame Deer ate the map clean out of her hands, Vernon hated the food but very grudgingly approved of the train systems, always on time, always clean and so smooth that it was hard to tell when the trains actually started moving, plus, it was cheap. Petunia adored the fabrics and how clean everything was, not to mention how polite everyone was, bowing them in and out of stores. Dudley was busy ogling the girls, trying to get a peek up the Lolita skirts only to prompt squeals of alarm and the words '_Hentai_' and '_ecchi_' from the fleeing women. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed myself. I was fucking miserable and thoroughly fed up with the whole endeavour, and somewhat annoyed that I had missed College for this bullshit.

I intended on being a Police Officer or a detective, someone who caught criminals like my Dad – true, I was scared that I would end up like him, targeted by a Serial Killer, but if no one stood up and took them down, how many more people would die to feed their perversions? That was just my belief anyway.

That was probably why I found the sudden lack of people in the area rather worrying. Japan had a very rich night-life from what I recalled, even in such a sleepy little place like Tokonosu. Briefly, I entertained the thought of returning to the Hotel room where my relatives were before sneering at myself, like fuck I was going to go crawling back just because the streets creeped me out.

Shifting my bag to a more comfortable position, I started walking. I knew what Airport we were supposed to be leaving from, I would just go and Camp out in the Departures Lounge until the Dursleys arrived and as soon as we hit England I would be gone. I'd move out entirely and go and live with Sirius and Remus – damn what the social workers said about it being inappropriate for him to live with a pair of gay men, _fuck them_. Better an obviously loving if unconventional couple to abusive egocentric jackasses like the Dursleys.

I suppose the fact that I left that evening saved my life. The next morning the whole block was completely overrun with "Them".

* * *

Despite the general bad vibe he was receiving that night, Harry found himself enjoying his walk through the City. It was quiet and there was a slight familiar bite to the air that reminded him of home, Japan felt rather warm to him in comparison to England, even in Spring. It wasn't wholly uncomfortable, it was just rather humid and it made the stink around Dudley and Vernon next to unholy after a day of trailing along after Petunia as she dragged them through the shrines and such. As much as the men may have been regretting the trip, at least she was wholly enjoying herself, she was utterly enchanted with almost everything she clapped her eyes on – with the exception of the Deer and the assortment of Samurai Swords and Ninja stars that Dudley tried to talk her into buying.

He must have made for an odd sight, a foreigner wondering leisurely through the local streets of Tokonosu with nothing but a backpack, he would admit, he was somewhat concerned that the police would attempt to stop him and ask after his relatives. Thanks to the childhood starvation and the continued deprivation of decent food, Harry was incredibly small and bird-boned, he looked as though he were fourteen instead of sixteen-seventeen.

While he usually had an excellent sense of direction, Harry found himself lost fairly soon as he tried to find his way to the nearest train station. He couldn't say he was surprised, and while it was annoying, he did have his little phrase-book, if worst came to worst, he could always duck into one of the restaurants or just wait until the morning before asking someone for directions. He was no stranger to rough-sleeping with _his_ relatives.

Sighing in amused exasperation at his own unfamiliarity with the area he simply kept walking. If he didn't run into someone within the hour he would just find a good doorstep and curl up in one of Dudley's oversized sweaters.

The first sign of trouble was the young woman who came sprinting past, heaving sobs.

Harry stared after her retreating form with a raised eyebrow and a squeeze of concern, what on earth had happened to reduce her to tears? Briefly he considered running after her and making sure she was alright but his lack of Japanese and the fact that he was a complete stranger might frighten her and just make things worse. So, he ignored the squeeze and carried on walking, putting her out of his mind.

The second sign was the sudden sound of sirens and his having to leap to the side of the street as about three motorbikes in full lights and uniform shot past. Traffic Police? Harry frowned in confusion but continued on, glancing occasionally over his shoulder as he continued to meander down the road, half considering turning around and chasing after them in the hopes of grabbing some directions.

The third sign that really made his whole body clench in unease was the thick blood streak on the pavement, the way it splattered and then dragged for a few metres and splattered again. Before a pair of bloody shoe prints staggered off towards what looked like a nightclub. He swallowed anxiously at the sight of the blood, true he was no stranger to it, but that was too much for a person to lose and remain healthy, whoever it was he hoped they got help and hospital treatment, and fast.

That was when the screaming from the Nightclub started.

Harry jerked backwards as the entrance practically boiled with people trying to escape, men and women kicking and punching and shoving one another in their chaotic need to escape. More than a few of them were clutching at what sickeningly enough looked like bloody bite marks, actual chunks of flesh having been ripped away – there was no way they could actually be bite marks, very few animals had the jaw strength to tear such decisive _chunks_ out of flesh and muscle. The crocodile was one of them but it didn't have enough teeth, or of the right kind.

One of the women screamed again, pointing at him and, rather stupidly, Harry blinked, freezing in place and pointing at himself. He was hardly the most terrifying thing in the world, fuck, he didn't even top 5'5" and he wasn't as fugly as his cousin no matter what directions your sexual preferences ran in.

It was the slow hissing moan behind him that clued him in.

At 2.36am, barely three hours after he left his Hotel room, he encountered **Them**. Or rather... they encountered _him_.

He didn't understand _what_ was being shouted but he whipped around and jerked out of reach from the... severely unwell person who lunged at him from behind, breath rattling in his lungs, skin ashen grey and eyes rolling and milky, he looked more like a walking corpse – was he suffering from leprosy? Wait, Harry stared at the blood and ribbons of flesh lodged between his teeth, the smell of blood and decay and something that reminded him of mould and rancid pork. He recalled distantly that most Fire-fighters often couldn't stomach pork, because when human flesh burned, it smelled similar to a pork roast, also that a lot of organs were artificially grown in pigs before the Animal Rights folk started kicking up a fuss. Did that mean that human flesh gave off the same smell as a pig when it rotted?

That would mean...

The thing hissed and lunged at him again. Harry turned and ran, he wove through the boiling crowd of screaming and yelling men and women as they fled down the street away from the creature – several clutching bloody wounds falling at the wayside, spitting up blood and sobbing in confusion as their bodies failed them and more of the _things_ shuffled out of the darkness, hissing and moaning, reaching for them with grey hands, and crooked fingers, cramped up in Rigor-mortis.

Green eyes widened in horror as gaping mouths clamped down on human flesh, digging in mercilessly, heedless to the screaming and thrashing, the flailing limps and attempts to attack by its prey. He watched a man with tattoos wrapped around his arms flick a knife from somewhere on his person and ram it into a creature's chest, hard enough to pierce the heart, but the thing just kept coming, it didn't even pause, didn't even register the wound. One of them was even missing an arm as it caught a fleeing woman and, heedless of her thrashing and pushing, sank its teeth into her throat, tearing out a massive chunk. She fell, twitching and gurgling in the creature's grasp as it bent down and took another chunk from her shoulder, she rattled her last breath and then fell still, the creature continuing to leisurely eat its fill until...

Harry could feel himself becoming light headed as he saw the woman move again, limbs twitching and jerking sporadically as another rattle came from her throat, this one a sad gurgling hiss, disturbingly similar to the creature that had finally given up interest in eating her. She stared at him from across the street, her eyes sightless, milky and utterly soulless as her skin faded in the lights, becoming grey and papery, lifeless with blood oozing from the open wounds on her throat. No longer spurting now that her heart had stopped beating.

He ran.

He ran as far and as fast and as hard as his legs could physically carry him until she was in the more populated parts of the town, panting and horrified he darted into a nearby convenience store and in very rushed and poorly spoken Japanese begged the Cashier to call the police. The man looked thoroughly confused but did as requested, he even went as far as to ask for an English speaking officer before handing the phone over to Harry who explained about the strange riot – leaving out the parts where people were eating each other, just mentioning that they weren't acting like humans and didn't seem to even stop when stabbed or pushed or struck.

The police must have received similar calls because the woman on the other end asked him if he had been bitten, he replied no and she told him, sounding very urgent and hurried, that he had to get to Shintoko Elementary School – on the otherside of the Onbetsu Bridge. Where the fuck they were he didn't have the slightest idea but the fact that it was a bridge meant that he was looking for a river. That would just have to do.

He thanked the woman on the other end of the line and hung up, telling the Cashier in very staggering Japanese that he had to run, he probably totally butchered his words but he seemed to understand '_go to Shintoko School_' and '_Onbetsu_' if nothing else. The man stubbornly shook his head and scowled, ushering Harry from the store firmly, saying '_no_' repeatedly in English whenever he opened his mouth to try and convince him.

Giving up, Harry looked around him at the peaceful street, everyone going about their business without the slightest idea of what was happening out of the bright neon lights of the main-road, his stomach clenched in fear and guilt.

The Dursleys didn't know. They were holed up in their Hotel room none the wiser.

Swinging his bag off he dug in for his phone and keyed in Dudley's number, biting his lip and bouncing his foot up and down as he waited for an answer. It went to voicemail after a few minutes and he hung up in frustration before trying again. Only to go to voice mail after a few minutes. He may have hated them, but he hoped that it was just Dudley being thick and forgetting his phone when they all decided to get out of there.

Taking a breath, Harry put his phone on silent and shoved it into the pocket of his jeans before swinging his backpack into place, using the clips to fasten it over his stomach at the same time. This bag had everything in it, his passport, wallet, clothes, everything and he couldn't afford to lose it in a foreign country where he barely knew how to ask for directions.

He sat down on a low wall at the side of the street, taking a deep breath and thought of his next move.

Flesh eating corpses, check. Like a fucking zombie movie, but at least they weren't sprinters, or anything from Left 4 Dead, they would be pretty fucking screwed if Hunters and Tanks were roaming the streets of Japan. Right, right, right. Ignoring the stupidity of his brain.

It was night time, he needed a place to crash, he'd been up since 6.30am the previous morning and now it was hitting onto 3am, only a few hours short of a full 24 hours. He needed sleep. He needed somewhere safe to crash and he needed the daylight hours to move – he didn't know this city, this neighbourhood, he needed to see where he was going to safely make his way to the Elementary school. Otherwise he would get dragged down an alley-way and killed, eaten alive like one of Dudley's snack-bags. Messy and painful. Not to mention gross for anyone watching.

He couldn't go back, that would be suicide. It was a fairly warm evening so he could, in all honesty, sleep rather comfortably outside so he wouldn't have to spend money he didn't have on hotels. Now he just needed to find a safe place to sleep.

Easier said than done.

* * *

It wasn't ideal, it certainly wasn't safe, but it was about the best he could do under the circumstances.

The roof that he took sanctuary within wasn't the highest or the warmest of places, he had climbed on top of a collection of vents, just under the roofing or a little utility room that was padlocked from the outside, and donned all of Dudley's old hand-me downs before curling up to get some sleep, using his backpack as a pillow.

Like he said, it wasn't ideal and it wasn't safe, but he slept. Badly though. His dreams punctuated with nightmares, the hissing moans of the Things, screaming and the sound of crunching glass and metal, the wailing of children as the world around him went to shit. His sleep was uneasy and not at all restful, it was cold and uncomfortable and whenever he closed his eyes he saw Hell. But in the end, he managed to sleep just as green and pink began to streak the sky.

And woke up to the smell of smoke, the screaming of women and the hissing moans of the _things_ scrabbling just out of reach. He yelped like a dog trodden on, bolting upright when he realised their fingers were literally inches from the edge of the vents he slept on, close enough for him to reach out and have his fingers bitten off and heard a woman shriek and what was unmistakably a metal pole narrowly miss his head to scrape on the concrete of the roofing above his head.

"Hey, Lady!" he yelped in horror, ducking quickly enough to avoid the blow before peering at her over the lip with wide green eyes. She was a mature woman, probably a mother or a business woman, with short black hair and dark eyes, she was wearing a bloodstained sweater and a pair of jeans. She had obviously managed to make her way up here alone because there was no one else there, just the moaning and clamouring things just out of reach. How she could have missed Harry curled up on the vents was an utter mystery but at least she stopped trying to cave his skull in when he spoke to her.

The two of them sat in thoroughly uncomfortable and tense silence as the creatures moaned and scraped at the walls below. They knew they were up here, so it was doubtful they were going to leave.

Harry sighed as his stomach growled plaintively, he hadn't eaten much yesterday, the Dursleys weren't willing to waste money on getting him any decent food so he was stuck with condiments and a bowl of plain white rice at breakfast and lunch – he didn't have dinner at all. Now he was paying the price and having his stomach make its displeasure known. The woman was giving him edgy and suspicious looks as well, as if she were expecting him to attack her, kill her or rape her, she was utterly terrified and gripping that pipe so hard her knuckles were white. Honestly, he wasn't sure what to make of her. When he tried to speak to her or even get closer from his little corner – about to fall backwards into the waiting teeth of the things below – she would scowl and jab that pole at him threateningly at him. Once she had even tried to hit him with it when he didn't stop talking.

He got the feeling that she wouldn't be interested in joining him when he left.

He tried to anyway. He got to his feet and, ignoring the jutting pole, began to stretch and pack away the majority of the clothes he had worn to sleep in, the woman whimpered in horror when she saw him unclothing which pretty much confirmed that she thought he was going to rape her. Anger burned hot and low in his veins but he studiously didn't look at her, she obviously thought the worst of him but for what reason? Sure there were fresh eating freaks trying to kill them but he was quite clearly not one of them and not bitten so not going to become one of them, but really, they had never met, she knew nothing about him and he knew nothing about her. Why was she thinking that?

Sighing in frustration he looked at her and tried to speak again in rather faltering Japanese. Explaining that he was going down, did she want to go as well?

All he got was another jab of the staff and a cry of "_Ya da! Ya da, ya da, ya da!_" she screamed at him, waving her staff frantically from side to side.

He sighed and shrugged, he really needed a weapon if he was going to get out of here alive.

He contemplated the woman's pole, he could probably do a lot better with that than she would but on the other hand, she was already terrified of him, he couldn't make her even more scared by taking her weapon and leaving her up here to die. Well, he was going to leave her up here anyway, but with the weapon she at least had a chance of escape.

He sighed again, he was doing that too much, and looked out over as much of the city as he could. Smoke and flame was the predominant vision, men and women running and screaming, the things shuffling slowly, ponderously and yet menacingly unstoppably through the streets after the survivors. Distantly, he could see the river and he hoped that was the one he was supposed to be going for. There weren't all that many of the things on the roof, he had enough space to jump them and get back to the fire-escape he'd climbed up, the question was, were they on the Fire escape as well? Below it? He would find out when he got there.

Looking back at the trembling woman he offered her a small smile, "Sayonara," he told her before turning and taking a deep breath, hopping back a few paces, for once not suffering the woman's pole as she stared at him in stupefied disbelief, and ran.

Bending his leg at the edge of the roof, he launched himself up and over the squirming mass of creatures. The woman screamed behind him and his legs hit the concrete of the roof. Shock jarred up his body and his teeth as he tucked his body forward and rolled to prevent himself from breaking his ankles or harming himself. Climbing to his feet, he half expected to find the creatures baring down on him, but none of them had even noticed his escape, they were still busy trying to claw the shrieking woman down from the top of the roof.

He turned away to check the fire-escape, it looked clear but there was an unpleasant sight below, a corpse, a real non-moving completely dead and non-cannibalistic corpse, splattered across the pavement. Someone had jumped and landed head first. But at least it was safe.

He sighed as the woman continued shrieking after him, he recognised some of the words, such as '_save me_' and '_bastard foreigner_' and '_please oh god please_'. Huffing irately about pushy women, he made his way to the opposite side of the roof to the fire-escape, he gestured at her to be quiet, when she had finally ceased shrieking at him, he opened his mouth and started shouting at the things. Drawing their attention away from the woman and towards him.

Being both swifter and lighter on his feet than the things, he easily ran along the edge of the roof and made his way back to the roof where the woman was leaning down and watching them shuffle away with hissing moans of hunger.

"Quickly, quickly," he told her in an undertone, helping her down, ignoring the way she fairly shoved him away once she was on the same level, he also ignored how she gripped her pole and glared at him warningly.

Gesturing at her to follow, he quickly made his way to the fire-escape and began to climb down, the woman seemed determined to have him go first, probably thinking that he would be the one to get chomped so better him than her. Elitist bitch.

They were just reaching the bottom floor when the window shattered.

The woman screamed as one of the things lunged at her, clawed fingers digging into her calves as teeth latched onto her Achilles tendon and tore it out. All her motor-control went to hell as she flailed, lashing out with the pole and striking Harry around the face with it, making him tumble backwards as he caught the pole and fell out of the fire-escape. Landing hard on the concrete below, all the air being forced out of his lungs, metal pipe in hand and clattering noisily on the ground as the woman screamed blue murder, unable to escape and already blinded with the pain of having her tendon torn out – flopping around like a marionette.

However these things picked their prey, Harry was horrified and frightened to realise that there was a large number of them converging on them right now. The woman was certainly kicking up enough racket to wake the dead – apparently she was summoning them now as well.

All too soon he heard the familiar death rattle as he staggered to his feet, thanking the padding of his backpack as he struggled to breathe and grabbed the metal pipe. If he hadn't been wearing the bag stuffed with clothes, that fall would have been a _lot_ worse, and he would be unable to move and thus dead. Retreating down the alleyway, he nimbly climbed the chain-link fence and dropped down to the other side, startling a cat from under a dumpster before he hurried on.

Not even ten O'clock and he had already seen a woman die and nearly done so himself. This was not a good omen.

* * *

**And that's Episode One finished. For those of you confused with the timeline, this is now the Day of Infection - which I recently discovered was April 13th. The same day that Komuro's school gets attacked. This is Z-day. Harry encounters ****Them**** for the first time at 2.30am on this day. He goes to sleep at 3am and wakes up at roughly 8am, after about five hours sleep. I'm trying to keep the plot from progressing in an unrealistically speedy fashion but that's the problem with fictions like this, you do tend to pack a lot into a chapter. **

**As for Harry's attitude, I know this will be an issue for some people, but I'm trying to keep him as close to canon as possible while enhancing certain characteristics that seem to be logical in him. Such as his ability to adapt to the situation, he's always been adaptive in the books and now, without magic, he's had to increase that ability three fold in order to stay safe and comfortable. Because lets face it, if Stonewall is anything like the public school I went to, people would be getting stabbed, Harry's going to have some measure of badassity. That will feature later.**


	2. E2: Amongst the Dead

_I do not own Highschool of the Dead, nor do I own Harry Potter, both are the respective properties of those who created, drew and published them. This story and all listed Original characters are mine, please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. With that said – please enjoy the story and share your thoughts and opinions with me._

* * *

Summary: **A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.**

* * *

**EPISODE TWO**** – Amongst the Dead**

_By Araceil_

* * *

Breakfast was a speedy and chaotic affair that morning.

The main-road was somewhat populated by the Things – he needed to think of a better word than Things or Zombies – and the backstreets were actually _choked_. Harry felt it safer to stick to the main road and be as quiet as possible since these things were blind from what he could tell. None of the ones in the shop windows had even reacted when he walked past – and hadn't that given him a heart attack when _he_ finally noticed _them_.

In all, the only problems he had were inside the shop when he had to shut the Cashier into one of the freezers and get his breakfast, lunch and dinner into the bag. He felt bad about stealing so he emptied his wallet on the counter and quickly made his escape before anything took exception to him being there.

He had always been particularly stealthy, years of stealing food at the Dursleys and then sneaking around at school to avoid the worst of the delinquents had strangely prepared him for this. He stalked through the streets of Tokonosu towards where he hoped the river was, he was quiet and he managed to make it ten minutes down the road before his foot hit a metal street cover and clanged audibly – it didn't echo, it didn't go far, but the creature closest to him jerked around and moaned. Loudly.

The gig was up.

Harry cursed under his breath and bolted, using the pipe he occasionally shoved one or two out of the way as he ran but it was getting more and more difficult to avoid them, the things from the back-streets were being drawn out by the hissing and moaning mob that was trailing behind him as he ran. Up ahead was an overturned freight-truck, Harry didn't know what was inside it but the crumpled car in front of it provided the perfect leg up as he jumped up and then pulled himself onto the overturned vehicle – safely out of reach from the ravenous horde behind him. God damn, there had to be a solid hundred, maybe two hundred of the little bastards swarming down the road towards him.

He sighed and got his breakfast out, he wasn't going to be able to move for a while. Best he stay quiet. Perhaps they would come to the conclusion that he had escaped after a while.

He hadn't been at all very picky when he'd been grabbing food, but he found that while he didn't really _like _the pancakes filled with the sweet-bean curd, he could still eat them without needing to waste most of his water to get rid of the taste. The majority of his bag was filled with canned goods, bottled water and a few stimulant bottles – plus vitamins and minerals from the tiny little pharmacy section at the back of the shop, he'd also grabbed a few roles of bandages, some disinfectant and a small general first-aid box, and a notebook and pen. Just in case. He'd wrapped Dudley's clothes around them to prevent rattling and sloshing, it seemed to have worked so far. Now, if only those noisy buggers down below would stop clamouring he could probably sleep those hours he missed from this morning.

A car crashing further up the street broke whatever tranquillity he was able to gain.

Harry jerked upright and stared at the flaming wreck several hundred metres up the road, already it was being swarmed by the Things, completely uncaring as to whether they caught fire or not, which they did. He hoped to all hell that the people inside died when the car crashed. Getting eaten alive wasn't the way he ever wanted to go, he hoped someone would be kind enough to kill him first.

On the bright side though, the impact into the building set up an almost unholy racket that drew all of the things toward it, leaving his way entirely clear.

Cautiously, Harry climbed down from his safe perch, stepping back awkwardly as one of the things shuffled past him with a gargling hiss of interest. Fairly soon they were all igniting next to the car, Harry grimaced and pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose as the smell began to get to him – he could see why Fire Fighters would swear off pork, the rumours were true. Hefting his pole, Harry took a deep breath and tightened the straps on his bag, time to go he decided as he made his way down one of the side streets, flattening himself to the wall as one of the Things moved past towards the crash-site.

Definitely drawn by sound, that was fortunate, if they had increased senses like sight or smell then he could only assume they would all be royally fucked because if just one of them saw you then you would get swarmed by all the others when they kicked off the alarm.

The further into the back streets the less crowded and choked it became, there was a lot more evidence of human activity though – bullet holes in the walls, broken windows from the shop-fronts, a pair of ripped and bloody lady's underwear which made Harry freeze in incomprehension for all of ten seconds before anger, hot and thick, burned through his veins. Gritting his teeth, he carried on, just because he saw something that... It might not have been rape, he was letting his imagination run away with himself, for all he knew, someone may have just used the first piece of clothing in a bag to mop up a wound or something. He kept walking, being careful of his feet and not to make any undue noise as he crept behind swaying figures stood listlessly in the middle of the street.

He took his time, what would have taken half an hour probably took him two hours, there was a lot of broken glass strewn over the pavements and it was difficult to manoeuvre his way through the clumped corpses. When he occasionally did some across an honest to go inanimate corpse it was somehow more horrifying than its reanimated companions. Usually because the body had been severely savaged barely seconds after it had fallen. Apparently the Things would continue to feast until the corpse had lost warmth, or they were distracted by other, livelier prey.

He encountered his second survivor of the morning at that point.

They were roughly of the same age, he was still wearing a school-uniform and wielding a large metal baseball bat – causing quite a lot of commotion and steadily drawing the shambling corpses ever nearer. But he was alive and despite his apparent stupidity or lack of observational skills, Harry wasn't one to leave someone to die unless he was certain there was no chance of rescuing them – like the woman earlier that morning, he tried to help her but the second those Things got their teeth into her, even she knew it was a lost cause.

"Oi!" Harry called to the kid, gesturing, making a few of the ones nearer to him jerk around with hissing moans. The kid looked around in surprise, probably at having run across another survivor, it was roughly mid-morning and all Harry had seen were those Things, car accidents and blood-streaks. He didn't know the word for '_This way_', at least, he wasn't certain about it. He just kept gesturing for the other teenager to follow him while saying, "_Hayaku, hayaku._" one of the few Japanese words that he knew would be helpful in this situation. The moment Petunia had learned that it meant faster, or hurry up, it became her new favourite thing to bark at him.

Harry jabbed one of the Things out of the way as he ran forward, grabbing the kid by the shoulder and pulling him back, repeating himself until the kid turned away from the Things and actually did as he was told. The two of them ran pell-mell through the back streets, the other teenager quickly following Harry's example of just shoving the things aside and not stopping to crack their skulls open, thankfully he also kept his mouth shut as they finally hit the main road.

Harry sighed in relief and placed his finger to his lips to tell the other boy to be quiet, he looked confused so Harry did his best to explain through crude puppetry. Some things could never be misinterpreted. He pointed to the nearest one of the Things, shuffling listlessly down the street before pointing to his own eyes and shaking his head, the other teenager's face lit up in sudden realisation as he nodded rapidly. Well, perhaps not as stupid as Harry had first anticipated. He smiled and nodded happily before taking a deep breath and looking at the other teenager in askance, was he ready for this?

The Japanese boy nodded firmly, his dark eyes intense as he gripped his metal bat in preparation.

They could exchange names and niceties when they got somewhere safe and less likely to kill them if they spoke or made a sound out of turn.

* * *

Sasaki Mamoru honestly didn't know how to react. His whole world had just fallen to pieces in the span of two hours – he had only just _barely_ managed to escape the school after getting ditched by his so called bestfriend Hideaki who practically shoved him into a crowd of those Freaks so he could escape with those sluts he called classmates. Everything had just gone so horribly wrong so quickly, too quickly, it still hadn't sunk in to be completely honest. One minute he was sat in lessons, contemplating how to glue the teacher to his fucking chair and shove that chalk stick up his nostrils without getting expelled, then an announcement came over the speakers about how some dangerous individuals had broken into the school and that everyone had to stay in their classrooms and follow the Teach's orders.

It hadn't even been five minutes after the announcement ended that the doors were busted in by a gang of those Freaks, they grabbed Masaki as she was sat closest to the door and then all hell broke out as she started screaming with those things biting and clawing at her. Like everyone else in the class he bolted, but unlike those suckers, he made for the fencing behind the Gym where it was pretty easy to use the trees at the back there to climb over the chain-link fence.

He had been laughing, all of them had, Hideaki and those girls had come with them along with Naoki from Class 2E, an old smoking buddy of theirs. They raided the gym and gathered weapons before doing the business and skipping out. But the outside wasn't any safer than the inside. The second their feet touched the ground, those Freaks were after them. He knew now that it was because they were laughing and making such a noise but at the time they assumed the Freaks had been waiting for them.

Hideaki blamed him for leading them straight to Them and roughly kicked him in the gut, shoving him towards the things before he grabbed the blonde bitch Hana and dragged her off. They were laughing as they left him to be eaten alive and it tasted bitter when he realised that Hideaki, that fucker he once called a bestfriend, ditched him for a chance to fuck some sweet, sweet vagina. Too bad that _everyone_ and their fucking dogs had boned Hana so he wasn't going to have very much fun fucking the slut, it'd be like throwing a hotdog down a fucking hallway when you compared his tiny cock to how fucking loose her cunt was. Maybe it was the bitterness talking but he said they deserved each other, and he hoped they got eaten while they were busy having their lame and unsatisfying sex.

He'd managed to escape, he had stumbled across the street and nearly got hit by some jackass in a bus as he ran down the back streets, he had to get home, he had to check on his family. They weren't too far from the river, they lived pretty well in a small family home not far from the Onbetsu Bridge, not much of a walk but it had taken him almost two hours to get a third of the way there.

Currently, he had pulled the foreign kid who'd saved his bacon into a familiar convenience store, they had hit on a pocket of survivors but everyone was going insane, shooting and killing any one of those things and the kid nearly got shot despite being clearly alive. And that kind of pissed Mamoru off in all honesty.

Having worked at this convenience store a few summers back, he still remembered the keycode to get into the back rooms and easily tugged the smaller male along behind him. The two of them retreated into the storage rooms while the pursuing psychos tore the place apart shouting, the High-schooler placed a hand on the kid's head and gestured at him to be quiet as he tried to listen in on what they were saying. He completely missed the irritated scowl on the older male's face as he was treated like a fucking kid.

Damnit, no use, the door was too thick for him to hear anything useful, though if he had to put money on it, he would say that they shot at the younger kid because he was foreign. Heck, he was guilty of a little Tourist Baiting before now, Super Soakers in summer filled with icy cold water, stalking the fatties and getting them in the most embarrassing of locations. Great fun. But trying to kill a kid with a shotgun just for that? Not cool.

Especially not when said kid was a better person than half the fuckers he knew at school.

Who apparently had kleptomania. Mamoru spluttered in shock as he saw the kid tearing open various boxes, unloading several things into his backpack, "Hey, you can't do that!" he squawked in an undertone, "You have to pay for those!" he hissed, rushing over to try and stop him.

The kid glared at him and slapped his hand, preventing him from removing the stuff he had already put into his bag. "Stop," the kid growled at him before rummaging around for a few other things, Mamoru stared at him and then looked into his little bag, somewhat startled by what he saw. All this stuff was high-energy and long term preservable, not to mention the first-aid box and vitamins, all the clothes in there were massively oversized and rather threadbare – much like the clothes he was wearing right now – but he certainly had a lot of water in there, plus some stimulant shots that were usually popular around exam time.

This kid... was acting as if this was going to be a long-term thing.

Mamoru's stomach sank to his feet as he sat down heavily on the hard linoleum floor, they had no evidence that it wouldn't, the fact that it spread so quickly meant that it was next to impossible to contain and thus control... who's to say that the whole of Japan hadn't been inflicted with those Freaks? What about other countries?

"Lunch." Mamoru jerked as a packet of salmon onigiri landed in his lap, he looked up at the kid who was sat opposite him, already stuffing his mouth with another ongiri, a bottle of water in his hand stretched out towards the High-schooler. "Eat. Lunch," the boy told him in broken and stumbling Japanese.

He managed to smile, "Thanks," he said, accepting the water bottle and cracking it open, "I'm Mamoru, you?" he asked.

The kid frowned at him and dug into his bag, Mamoru watched curiously until he produced a little book that very nearly had him snorting water through his nose as he tried to suppress his laughter. A little Japanese Phrasebook, that was surprisingly cute, just how old was this kid? There was no way he was older than fifteen, especially as a foreigner, they were all freakishly tall and this kid barely hit his shoulders.

"My name is Harry," the boy read out falteringly, "Nice to meet you."

Mamoru snickered as he sipped his water, "Nice to meet you, Hari-san. How old are you?" he asked, breaking into his Onigiri. At least with the delay between replies they could comfortably eat their lunches.

"I am seventeen-years-old." The Japanese high-schooler promptly choked on his Onigiri, much to Harry's satisfaction. "How old are you?" he asked, and it wasn't Mamoru's imagination that Harry's voice had become sweeter upon asking the question. His cheeks flushed embarrassedly, holy crap, he had mistaken a dude older than him for just some Gaki.

"Uh, sixteen. Sixteen-years-old," he admitted, still rather embarrassed that he had made such a huge social blunder, Hari-senpai didn't seem to mind though as he dug into his Onigiri and one of the bottles of fizzy-pop from behind them. "Where are you going anyway?" Mamoru finally managed to ask, embarrassment subsided, the older male certainly seemed to have a destination in mind judging by how purposefully he had been moving through the streets earlier, the fact that it had been in the same direction as Mamoru was somewhat relieving as he didn't like the idea of splitting up and going it alone. That was dangerous, not to mention a little depressing and lonely.

"Onbetsu Bridge," Hari-senpai answered after consulting his little book for a few minutes or so, finally getting the gist of what the other boy was asking, "Shintoko School police-san go to said." He completely butchered the sentence structure but Mamoru understood, someone from the Police told him to cross the Onbetsu Bridge and get to Shintoko Elementary School. But whatever for? "Where are you?" he asked, peering over the edge of his little book as he absently nibbled away at a Sweet-bean bun.

"Home. I need to check on my family," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head and telling himself that the nauseous feeling in his stomach was just from the smell of his clothes.

"Family?" Harry asked, not understanding the word before frowning and checking his book and nodding in understanding, "Family. Okay. We go," he agreed firmly as he licked the last crumbs of his lunch from his fingertips.

Mamoru stared at him in surprise, that easily? He had just decided to join him, help him and his family, just like that? Drop of a hat? Even Hideaki would have whined and bitched before help- no, as evidenced earlier, Hideaki would probably use them along with him to keep himself alive. No one else would have helped. He wasn't the smartest guy, or the best looking guy either, he was gruff and crude and he swore entirely too much and he had bleached his hair blond. No girls would talk to him unless it was to get a cigarette off him or have him beat someone up on their behalf, he had a girlfriend once or twice, but only when he had a job they could sponge cash from. Though there had been one girl, one girl who had been decent, she had been kind and good and all the things he wasn't, she was a proper girl and not one of those slags. But he'd screwed it up, got drunk, got violent, she ran off crying and he never heard from her again, after all, she attended a different school and the few times he did try to go and see her, her rather scary girlfriends would gang up on him and make him leave.

Even his friends ditched him in the end and then along comes some scrawny foreign guy who looks like a Gaki but is actually a Senpai and without a single moment's hesitation, agrees to help him without his even having to ask for it.

"Thank you."

* * *

The vast number of humans that flocked to the Onbetsu Bridge was staggering, Mamoru made sure to keep Hari-senpai close to hand, while no one was paying attention right now, too determined to escape those Freaks, but he could tell that there would be discontent later. People would be pointing the finger at the first convenient scapegoat, be it Yakuza, Delinquents or Foreigners. And considering the fact that Yakuza and Delinquents were still Japanese, Mamoru was betting that everyone would jump on the '_Let's all hate America_' train. Which meant a mob mentality and more danger for them, he was fairly sure he would be seen as a Traitor for taking his diminutive friend's side.

"Let's go," Hari-senpai hissed, grabbing him by the arm and jerking his head towards a young woman who was choking and spitting blood, a very obvious bite mark wrapped in a scarf around her forearm.

Mamoru nodded and quietly lead the other male down some familiar back-allies, they would need to climb the wall next to the Gas Station but it would take them out into his street about eight houses down. Apprehension squeezed his insides as he made his way through the familiar allies, remembering when he sprayed that graffiti outside the Ramen place, man, the owner had been so pissed that he actually came out swinging a hot oiled wok.

Behind his new friend, Harry frowned, picking up on his wool-gathering, this area must be close to his home.

Pursing his lips, the seventeen-year-old sped up a little until he was level with the blond male, if they ran into someone he knew, Harry doubted he would have it in him to strike without hesitation. That could mean Mamoru's death.

Distantly, they could hear shouting from the Onbetsu River, people being told that the bridges were blocked off and vehicles were only allowed to pass on the Onbetsu Bridge, anyone caught attempting to cross the other bridges would be harshly dealt with. The rapport of distant guns echoed through the streets along with the screaming and crying of women and children, men swearing and the sound of car horns and the low static hiss of those Things moaning as they chased their noisy prey.

Thankfully, they didn't encounter anyone that Mamoru was familiar with until they reached his house. It was a nice traditional looking place with a washing line out the front, the clothes smelling faintly of rice milk and green tea fabric softener. It was quiet, safe looking with large thick walls and a sturdy iron gate.

The blond teenager looked around warily as one of the curtains rustled from the open second floor window, silently, he closed the gate behind him and locked it into place as Harry shrugged his bag off and quietly set it on the grass.

"I go," the green eyed teenager told him, pushing him back towards the gate when he took a step forward, "I go," he repeated quietly, making Mamoru choke at the implication before he nodded.

Harry nodded and stepped back, readying his pole before he pushed open the front door, it having been slightly ajar which sent alarm bells off in his mind. He hoped that they weren't in the front entrance, Mamoru didn't need to see that. The hallway was empty, and he couldn't see any tell-tale blood streaks or splatters anywhere. Nudging the door shut behind him, just in case anything jumped out at him, he slowly made his way through the bottom floor. Moving on soundless feet – heedless to the act that he should have taken his shoes off in the entrance way as he cleared the living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom.

That left upstairs.

What he found... was grim.

Husband and wife in the bedroom, both of them having turned, the wife obviously having been bitten first as her wound was wrapped, both of them turned towards him with gasping mouths. Gritting his teeth, Harry lunged forward, jumping and smashing the pole down on the Wife's head – cracking it open like an egg. Twisting around, under the grasping arms of the Husband, he smashed it around his head with every ounce of force he could muster, crushing it against the wall, leaving a large blood splatter as he jerked and went still.

Panting slightly, Harry stared at the bodies silently before he set aside his pole and pulled their bodies to the other side of the bed, out of sight of the doorway. He put them side by side and covered them with the duvet from the bed.

It felt kind of wrong to just leave them there, he knew he could half expect Mamoru to either refuse to see them or spend hours just staring at their corpses. Either way, he felt like he _had_ to say something, anything really, to reassure whatever piece of themselves still existed, or had existed. He picked up his pole and went to the door, pausing slightly as the feeling refused to let him leave without saying _something_. But what could he say to a pair of dead parents? Sorry for killing you, don't worry, I'll keep your son alive as long as I can? Rather inadequate in his opinion.

So, in the end, he kept his mouth shut and continued to check the rest of the house, nearly getting killed in the process as he opened the upstairs bathroom and had a _child_ lunge for him, bloody teeth gnashing to try and claim a chunk of flesh. Mamoru's kid sister! Shit!

Putting his parents out of their misery was one thing, but she couldn't have been any older than eight!

Kicking the child away, he stared at her with conflicting feelings before stepping back, luring her back into the Husband and Wife's bedroom. Once inside he lifted the pipe above his head, "Sorry," he whispered and smashed it down onto her head, watching her drop like a puppet with its strings cut. He was equally careful about moving her as he had been with her parents, peeling away the duvet and setting her tiny body between them and, regardless of how morbid it may have been, he moved the arms of the Parents to rest over her, as if in a hug.

Sitting back he sighed, anything he had to say was inappropriate, he had quite literally just cracked their skulls open. In the end, he recovered them with the duvet and made his way out. Firmly closing the bedroom door behind him before heading downstairs to give Mamoru the all clear.

He didn't say anything, and he didn't ask after his family when Harry opened the door again.

Dark eyes took in the blood streaking the pole and splattered across his friend's clothes and closed his eyes, Harry kept quiet, feeling almost ashamed of himself in the painful silence as his friend tried to pull himself together. Eventually, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes, forcing a smile to his lips.

"C'mon, we're both covered in blood. Let's grab a bath and get some dinner, there's a lot of left-overs in the fridge," he suggested, breezing past the smaller teenager who didn't understand a single word but followed quietly none the less, closing the door behind him.

* * *

**Right, I'm going by the Manga Timeline so by the time that Harry and Mamoru reach his house, Komuro and his group have just met up outside Tokonosu Castle and are preparing to head to Rika's house. I know in the anime it had various events take place at night – such as Rei's near rape by that guy with the braces, but in the manga that takes place in the afternoon of Z-day. As of right now, its approaching night time of Z-day.**

**Hope you guys are enjoying this so far, I know we haven't had Komuro and his guys in there yet but like I said, I'm trying to keep this a little original so Komuro and his gang will show up but I'd like to play with Mamoru and Harry for a while. They're interesting characters in my mind, both with their own codes of conduct and oddly enough chivalry. Both of which will be demonstrated later.**

**((Yes, Mamoru is supposed to be something of a Yankii/Delinquent. I think it would rub a few people's fur the wrong way, such as Rei and Saya, to have him in the group.))**

A past reviewer suggested an alteration in the pairings. Now, in all honesty, the idea never crossed my mind. I just didn't like Takashi/Rei so the next viable pairing was Takashi/Saeko. But a helpful reviewer - you know who you are - asked why I didn't just make it Takashi/Harry. I will be honest and say this never crossed my mind. So. The decision is up to you guys. I've written about five Chapters of this story already, they're sat on my harddrive as I type this and I won't be writing anymore until the fifth Chapter is posted. At which point this Poll will be closed.

Which would you prefer, pairing wise?

Takashi/Saeko

Takashi/Harry

Mamoru/Harry

Harry/Rei


	3. E3: Night of the Dead

_I do not own Highschool of the Dead, nor do I own Harry Potter, both are the respective properties of those who created, drew and published them. This story and all listed Original characters are mine, please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. With that said – please enjoy the story and share your thoughts and opinions with me._

Summary: **A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.**

* * *

**EPISODE THREE**** – Night of the Dead**

* * *

Harry had never been in a traditional Japanese bath, as such, he squawked in alarm and quickly retreated from the bathroom when Mamoru began to undress, he could hear the bastard laughing through the door as the water started running and briefly contemplated grating several Wasabi pellets into his dinner before deciding not to bother as he began to rummage into the fridge to find said dinner.

Half the ingredients were unfamiliar to him but he found a few things he could work with. Guessing that the blond male would take his time so he could properly think, Harry got started on the preparation and cooking, he had never worked with sweet-potatoes so he hoped his dinner plans worked because he had no idea how to cook anything else in the fridge.

Deciding to leave the skins on for both extra flavour and energy, Harry sliced the sweet potatoes into fritters before taking the fresh fish from the fridge, they must have been bought either very late last night or exceptionally early this morning before this all kicked off. Harry worked efficiently as he de-scaled and gutted the fish before slicing off the head and fins, he rubbed the body with rock salt, malt vinegar and a few other herbs and spices, before wrapping them up in tin-foil, squeezing a generous amount of lemon juice over them before putting them into the oven and beginning to clean up after himself before starting to shallow-fry the sweet potato fritters in a little vegetable oil.

That was the smell Mamoru walked out of the bathroom to, the smell of slow roasting fish and the sizzling of sweet-potato fritters, his mouth watering despite himself.

"I didn't know you could cook!" he exclaimed appreciatively, craning his head over Harry's shoulder to get a better look at the thin slices that were slowly browning and crisping slightly at the edges of the frying pan as Harry used a wooden spatula to push them around.

The British teenager chuckled, not understanding what he said but laughing at the tone none the less. A lot of people were surprised when they found out he could cook, the Home Economics teacher at Stonewall had been on the verge of heart-failure as he was the only, the _only_, one amidst the boys who knew how cook, let alone use a stove. His few friends had been surprised as well but entirely welcoming as they revelled in the cakes and sweets he made during that class and shared around at lunch or after school so he wouldn't have to give them up to Aunt Petunia's neighbourhood tea-parties where all credit for making them would be stolen by the sour old bitch.

All of a sudden the spatula was taken from his hand, "Go take a bath. Go on, go clean up, I'll have everything laid out ready by the tie you finish," Mamoru told him, ushering him off to the bathroom. The meaning was perfectly clear and Harry winced slightly when he realised he was still splattered in the blood of his family.

Quickly retreating to the bathroom with his bag, Harry stripped and ditched his clothes in the dirty washing hamper – he would put them in the washing machine when he got out. The bathroom was a little odd to him, two round tubs that were just about big enough for someone to sit in comfortably with the water up to your shoulders, two little showers and stools on the other side of the room with shampoos and body washes on a shelf beside them. It was a nice room, covered in light green coloured tiles with a sliding window that was currently closed shut, the frosted glass glowing gold with the slowly setting sun as Harry took a seat on one of the stools and turned the shower on.

He worked quickly – mainly because he didn't really trust Mamoru with the cooking and because he felt strangely embarrassed and vulnerable by being naked in someone else's house.

He grabbed the strongest smelling bottle of bodywash to get rid of the smell of blood and fairly scrubbed his skin off, the thick tangy smell of grapefruit and cinnamon filling his nose until he could no longer smell the rancid blood that clung to his skin. His hair received the same treatment, first with shampoo and then with the grapefruit smelling wash – the smell of the blood was making his stomach turn.

He turned the shower on and rinsed his hair out, watching the suds fall down to the tiled floor and swish away on the tiles towards the drain. Flecks of brown and streaks of crimson in the water reminded him of what he had been washing off and he had to clamp a hand over his mouth to stop himself from throwing up, screaming or sobbing, or maybe even all of the above.

He had cracked a little girl's head open!

Since this whole thing began he hadn't... he'd managed to avoid that sort of thing. He hadn't taken a single life, or rather, he hadn't lain any of them to rest, not properly, not like this. Even that Cashier was still moaning and hissing away, locked up in that beer fridge with three boxes full of Shounen Jump Monthly piled up in front of the door to prevent him from getting out.

But no, this was Mamoru's family.

It was his mum and his dad and his little sister and he _couldn't_ expect the younger boy to... to _deal_ with them himself. He didn't think he would be able to bring himself to do the same to the Dursleys even considering their animosity, and if he couldn't do it to them, how the hell could he expect Mamoru to do the same to his family whom he obviously loved enough to come here in person to check on? Harry's loyalty only went as far as calling to check whether they were dead or not.

He killed a little girl.

And her parents. Oh Christ, he's killed them and it was so goddamn easy!

He rasped for air as he hugged his knees to his chest, heedless to the hot water cascading over his head. Distantly, in the back of his mind, he wondered if the Dursleys would have survived if Harry had called them before he got on the phone to the police and told them to run for it. Intellectually he knew they wouldn't have believed him and would have stayed there regardless, would have gotten themselves killed no matter what he said or did because they were contrary and did whatever they could to both prove him wrong and make him miserable. Yet he couldn't bring himself to feel even the slightest bit of pleasure at the thought of their deaths.

He just felt empty. Like a coconut that had been scraped for all its flesh – leaving nothing but a dry shell behind.

Turning the water off, he got to his feet and went to the little porch area where he towelled himself off and dressed in a baggy T-shirt, boxers and a pair of bike shorts he swiped from the P.E. Department at Stonewall – meaning they actually fit him for once. Gathering up his bag, into which he had shoved his shoes, and the dirty washing basket, he left the bathroom to the smell of dinner – unburned as well!

Mamoru grinned as he saw his friend surface from the bathroom, smelling strongly of grapefruit, he hadn't burned any of the food and had even dished up properly, he was sat at the breakfast bar, eagerly awaiting the other male to get out of the bathroom so he could dig into the fish. It looked so good.

Harry smiled when he saw the other boy almost quite literally chomping at the bit to get into his food, but there was something Harry needed to do first before he sat down. Holding up a finger to tell the other male he would only be a minute, he dropped his bag and took the washing basket into the utility room where he unloaded it into the washer, put some powder and softener in the appropriate draw, closed it and turned it on before coming back. Two hours later that would be ready to take out and put into the Dryer.

Finally, they dug into the food and just relaxed, tense muscles and frayed nerves managing to regain some kind of balance and sense of normalcy from such a simple thing as a hot shower and then a meal eaten at the table with cutlery could do a whole lot for your state of mind and emotional well being after a day like the one they just had.

Stuffed full to bursting and more than a little sleepy, the two of them shuffled up stairs into Mamoru's room where they both curled up on top of the covers and fell asleep immediately, too tired to bother with a Watch or even to take their clothes out of the washer and put them into the dryer ready for tomorrow.

They slept without dreams.

* * *

Gunshots and the sound of a motorbike jolted Harry to awareness, long served instincts had him awake immediately as soon as he noticed something was not quite right.

Roughly crawling over the other teenager he looked out of the window and started cursing up a storm, a little girl, there was a little girl about to get eaten by those Things – like FUCK he was going to let that happen!

"WAKE UP!" the green eyed teenager shouted, slapping Mamoru across the face, startling him into full wakefulness, if not awareness. "Hurry, hurry! Little girl! Hurry little girl!" Harry told him as he threw himself across the room and ran down the stairs, Mamoru tumbling along after him. Grabbing his pole and his backpack, he shoved the bag at Mamoru, "Follow. Follow hurry," he told him before opening the front door and rushing to the wall on his right-hand side. He was probably far from graceful as he hauled himself up and started running, ignoring Mamoru's vivid cursing behind him as he raced along the edge of the wall in his barefeet to where he could see a teenager with dark hair using a bat to beat away the Things threatening the little girl.

He breathed a little sigh of relief to know that not everyone in this place was dead or rotten bastards, only to growl when one of the Things tried to sneak up behind the other teenager.

"_Oniichan, oshiro!_" the little girl cried, pointing.

The teenager whirled around, his hands going for what Harry could only assume was a gun even as he lunged forward, pipe held aloft and then brought it down with a devastating crash onto the creature's head. Pulverising it into the ground as he landed, panting slightly and flicking blood from the pole – at least this time he had successfully managed to avoid getting splattered on.

The dark haired boy stared at him in surprise for a moment before grinning, "Thanks," he told the older teenager who smiled and gave him a brief thumbs up before looking at the little girl and gesturing, "Oh!" the teenager exclaimed in realisation, "You alright there?" he asked the girl, hurrying over.

"Harry, Harry you alright? You shouldn't go rushing off like that – holy shit how the fuck did you run along this like that?" Mamoru exclaimed as he delicately and unsteadily followed his green eyed friend's path across his neighbour's wall into the garden of those rather stuck up school-board members Mr and Mrs Takashiro. He swallowed anxiously as he tried not to look at the writhing mass of Freaks beneath his feet and finally jumped down into the Takashiros' garden where Harry, a little girl and a guy who was wearing a school uniform were waiting for him. And a puppy.

Harry smiled at the sight of him, "Okay?" he asked the younger teenager who sighed and swung the backpack off to return it to Harry.

"Fine. You?" The older teenager nodded and Mamoru looked at the other two, "You two alright?"

"Yeah, we're good, thanks for coming to our rescue like that," the dark haired teenager admitted, judging by the way the foreigner had come charging in without any shoes on he just have not even hesitated when he saw the situation, guilt and a little bit of shame stung him when he remembered how it had been Hirano to spur him to actually take the plunge to rescue the little girl.

Whatever else he was going to say was cut off as the gates rattled ominously under the force of the Things trying to reach through on the otherside.

"That's not good," Mamoru muttered while Harry knelt down to check the little girl and the dog, smiling in relief when he saw that she was completely unharmed.

The dark haired teenager nodded in agreement, "I never imagined it would be this bad. My bike's totalled as well. Any ideas?" he asked the blond teenager who gestured over his shoulder.

"My place is just back there but the Takashiros' have a better gate than us, ours would give in real quick. Dad sucks... sucked, at DIY."

"Oniichan," the little girl pipped up, her voice easily breaking the conversation as she pressed in close between the foreigner and her rescuer, "My daddy," she trailed off, tears beginning to well up in her eyes again, "He died," she whimpered thinly.

The dark haired teenager stared at her and then at the bloody body of an older man who still possessed a very human flush to his skin, obviously the girl's father by the way she looked at him as well. He marched over to the washing line and unhooked the cleanest white shirt there to drape over the man's face before picking one of the flowers growing in the garden and offering it to the little girl. Both Harry and Mamoru stood on the sidelines in silence.

"He gave his life to protect you. He was a great Dad," he told her firmly, nodding to the flower between his fingers.

The girl sniffled, welling up further but she set the dog down and took the flower, gently lying it on top of her father's covered chest before she broke down into hiccuping sobs that tore at something deep inside Harry, he didn't know if it was something instinctive but he couldn't ignore the sound and he couldn't turn away as she clutched onto the dark haired teenager, he knelt down beside her and placed a hand supportively on her back – it really was the best he could do even though he desperately desired to pick her up and hold her(1).

Mamoru looked away uncomfortably, feeling as though he were intruding on something he didn't understand and had no right to witness, instead, he moved the motorbike so that it was blocking the gate better. He may have hated the Takashiros' but with the way those Freaks were trying to get in, their gate wasn't going to last. The bike would at least give it some support and help it to last longer.

"Guys," he called, hating to break up the moment but the longer the girl cried like that the more frantic those Freaks were to get in, "I think we need to get moving and now."

The dark haired guy looked over at the gate and nodded, "Agreed. C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Which way are we going?" Mamoru asked, looking at Harry who was kneeling down and unzipping his bag, he watched, confused, as the green eyed male picked up the puppy and tucked him away in his bag. The puppy barked eagerly but didn't wriggle around as Harry carefully pulled the bag onto his back and clipped it in place with a nod, holding his staff at the ready.

The dark haired teenager frowned in concern, "I don't know."

Mamoru shook his head, "Which direction are we heading? We can go along the walls like earlier, it takes some balancing but its safe, those Freak's can't reach that high."

He nodded and pointed towards the right, the opposite side that Harry and Mamoru had come from, "Our teacher has a friend who lives over there, we're crashing there but I'm assuming we'll be leaving pretty soon after all this," he explained and Mamoru looked at him in surprise.

"You're staying at Rika-chan's place? Wow." He flushed at the thought of what it may have looked like on the inside, Rika had actually been Mamoru's first crush when he was younger and had been the star of a few... naughty dreams that provided exceptional embarrassment and enough incentive not to meet her eyes whenever he saw her in the streets. It didn't help that she would always tease him whenever they bumped into each other.

"You know her?" the dark haired teenager asked as he knelt down so the little girl could climb up, Harry having already gone ahead and climbed the wall, crouching and waiting so he could help him climb up as well – carrying a little girl was a lot more difficult than a puppy.

Mamoru nodded, "Yeah, she's like... the fifth best ranked police officer in Japan. Special forces I think. All I know is that she is way hot, a sniper and probably a lesbian if the lack of guys I've seen over the past ten years is a sign." The only person he had seen freely go in and out of that place was the busty blonde chick he had assumed for many years was Rika's girlfriend. The mental images were very... yes.

After that point, all conversation ceased as Mamoru gave the dark haired teenager and the little girl a leg up the wall where Harry hauled them up the rest of the way before leaning down to grab Mamoru's arm and help him up as well. With the three of them perched precariously on the wall, Harry nodded and took off first, trotting lightly over the narrow wall as if he did it every day – years of running from his cousin and from Delinquents had the unexpected side affect of causing him to master Parkour in the process.

They had managed to get three houses over before the dark haired teenager paused, making Mamoru behind him do so and Harry in front to turn back and frown in concern.

"S-say it again?" he asked the little girl on his back.

She blushed cherry red, "I-I have to pee," she admitted in an embarrassed squeak.

"Can you hold it?" he asked, his tone of voice suggesting that he doubted it yet hoped she could.

"Umm, no," she admitted tearfully.

Mamoru had to bite his lower lip to stop himself from laughing at the situation, oh that poor guy! He was truly a man amongst men for not freaking out as a dark wet stain spread down his back to his trousers and down from beneath the little girl – not to mention the glisten of wet on his hands beneath her. Harry, upon seeing the look of amusement on Mamoru's face, decided that the situation wasn't dire or even particularly dangerous so continued walking until he was at the street corner.

"Mamoru!" he called, pointing down the road to where he could see a Humvee on rapid approach – a woman stood on the roof in nothing but a pair of underwear and a kitchen apron, a maniacally grinning teenager peering out of the sunroof with what looked to be some kind of shotgun held at the ready. If that wasn't enough, the trio of scantily clad girls inside were cause for repeated blinking as well.

"Holy shit!" the blond exclaimed, swallowing against his suddenly dry throat, were those girls that guy's friends? Damn, why didn't he have friends like that?

"They sure know how to make an entrance," the dark haired teenager noted as the Humvee skidded to a screeching halt.

"Are they friends of yours, Oniichan?" the little girl asked, peering over his shoulder at the group of older girls in the car and the boy in the glasses.

"Yeah, they're very dear friends."

"Takashi!" one of the girls inside the vehicle called just as the teenager in the glasses opened fire and blew away some three of those Things from the car.

"We still have to get to the other side of the river," the woman in the apron pointed out, smiling as she stood atop the car, "You coming?"

"Naturally, and they are too!" he added jogging forward and jumping onto the Humvee with Mamoru close behind – Harry following a split second later after his blond friend gestured at him to follow.

"Targets secured!" the guy with the guns and glasses announced as he ducked into the Humvee to give room for everyone else to climb in.

"Sensei," the girl with the chestnut hair prompted, the blonde woman behind the wheel that Mamoru recognised as Rika's girlfriend chirped in agreement as she hit the acceleration and wheeled around. Jesus fucking Mary and Joseph! The blond clung to the roof of the Humvee as they shot off down the street, that woman should think about a career in street-racing or some kind of military driving! They could use talent to manoeuvre a Humvee like that.

When they finally hit the main road, it was deemed safe for everyone to finally get into the Humvee and hold some general introductions.

Rika's girlfriend was '_just a friend_' by the name of Marikawa Shizuka, the chestnut haired girl with the large hazel eyes was introduced as Miyamoto Rei – daughter of the Police Chief if he was putting the right last name to her, the dark haired teenager who got peed on was Komuro Takashi, the little girl was Maresato Alice-chan, the woman in the apron with the dark hair and icy blue eyes was Busujima Saeko – the national Kendo champion if he recalled correctly, the dark haired guy with the gun fetish and glasses was called Hirano Kohta – like the Manga artist who drew Hellsing, and the last of the group was a pink haired girl with orange eyes called Takagi Saya, the same Takagi Saya who's father was a super Right Wing Elitist. Pretty much the only thing that prevented him from shitting a brick at that moment in time was because she was in a tank-top and pair of hotpants, quite obviously sans bra and panties.

Briefly he had time to mourn the fact that he hadn't thought ahead and packed some stuff from his house just in case, he was quite literally wearing his sleep clothes – grey sweatpants and a baggy green button up shirt. But it looked like he wasn't the worst off in all honesty, Kohta was still in his school uniform and after Takashi had changed out of his urine soaked clothes he was forced to wear Rika's clothes because there was nothing else.

Still... All the excitement had finally caught up with them all and everyone found somewhere to sleep in the Humvee while Shizuka cheerfully drove down to a spot on the river where it was safe to cross in the car.

Mamoru and Harry ended up curled up amidst the bags, fast asleep and dead to the world.

* * *

**(1) Harry wanting to hold Alice:** Its not dodgy in any way, shape or form. Its a Paternal/Maternal thing. I noticed it with my brother and Sister in law a few years back when the children were young, my brother is quite capable of sleeping through his son pitching a fit, crying and screaming, but his wife can't. She has to get up and see if he's alright, she has to calm him down and baby him. Where as it was the complete opposite when it was the daughter, my brother couldn't sit still whenever she let out even the slightest of whimpers, he would be up like a shot where as his wife could snooze until she reached a certain volume at which point she would then be up. Guys seemed to be wired to react more to the sound of a little girl in pain or sadness than they are to little boys. Hence why Harry had such strong reactions to killing Mamoru's younger sister and to Alice when she was crying. Mamoru wasn't so affected because he had a younger sister so the sound hasn't been wired into his brain as anything more than an annoyance. Because Harry doesn't have a younger sibling, it immediately clicked a Paternal instinct inside of him to life.

**And the end of Chapter/Episode three. Again, I hope you guys are enjoying it so far. I'm having a lot of fun writing it in all honesty.**

**This Chapter saw the appearance of Harry's moral code – he can steal, he can lie but he finds it exceptionally difficult to kill, even when they're already dead. Where as Mamoru is the opposite, he can quite easily kill ****Them**** whereas he finds it abhorrent to steal, despite the fact he has no choice these days.**

**As for why he was scared of Takagi, Right Wing Extremists are known to get very violent during protests, for those of you unaware, they're very supportive of Old Japan, and believe that a return of the ways of the Samurai, the Emperor's Divine state and other such old fashioned values is the perfect cure for the country's ailments. Quite often they have ties to Yakuza and such which is why most would find them frightening. The politics in Japan are rather complicated – hell all politics are complicated, but this is what I know. Check it out on Wikipedia, they give a bit more information.**

* * *

Also, apologies to everyone who voted for _Harry/Rei_ but circumstances change and well... one of the original story arcs I have planned later involves a scene of, well, unpleasantness. So, regardless of how I develop Rei's character, who she is paired with, how badass she may end up, after that scene she won't be in the story anymore. I'm sorry to all the Rei fans out there but that's the way I pegged her personality, if something like that were to happen, I don't think she would stick around if she were put into a certain position.

Please don't think I did this because I don't like the idea of a het-pairing in here, I'm willing to develop Rei into someone I would like pairing with Harry, _but_ this plot arc has been giving me some difficulties for a few days now, this is the only way I can see it panning out.

The voting is as follows:

**Harry/Rei**: 14 –_ no longer in the running_ (See above if you haven't already)

**Takashi/Saeko**: 8

**Takashi/Harry:** 20

**Mamoru/Harry:** 23

Some people couldn't make up their mind as to whether they preferred one pairing over another so I just marked down both which is why the numbers seem a little odd. You still have time to change the numbers but a small FYI – if Saeko doesn't get paired with Takashi, then she's going to Mamoru (Personally, I can see him handling her sadistic nature a lot better than Takashi who's already shown himself to get physically abusive if a woman disagrees with him).


	4. E4: Flight from the Dead

_I do not own Highschool of the Dead, nor do I own Harry Potter, both are the respective properties of those who created, drew and published them. This story and all listed Original characters are mine, please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. With that said – please enjoy the story and share your thoughts and opinions with me._

Summary: **A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.**

* * *

**EPISODE FOUR**** – Flight from the Dead**

* * *

Takagi Saya seethed in silence as she scowled through her binoculars, Fatass and the little girl perched next to her singing little kid nursery rhymes as if they didn't have a huge problem sleeping in the back of the car. Still, she tried to ignore her mounting irritation and anxiety as she kept a watch out for **Them** along the shore-line, after the chaos of last night she didn't doubt that the blockades must have failed, and in response, **They** would have gotten over the river.

The situation wouldn't stop bugging her though.

They had two unknowns sleeping in the back of their truck, one of which couldn't even speak Japanese and the other was so _clearly_ one of those delinquent Yakuza wanna-bie twerps that she was frightened of even allowing him anywhere near herself or little Alice-chan. True they had, without hesitation, rushed to help Takashi and the girl – hell, the foreigner hadn't even paused to put his shoes on before he was running along the wall. But that didn't mean they were good people, that just meant they weren't willing to let a little girl die, it meant nothing in the long run, what if one of them got it into their heads to take some '_payment_' for their heroic deeds from them?

Fatass teaching Alice-chan disgusting songs was just the icing on the cake as she slapped a hand onto the metal roofing of the car and snarled at him, the poor girl had been through enough! What little innocence she had left Saya was determined to maintain! Be it physical or mental!

Sighing slightly as she heard Shizuka rouse the others below, Saya continued looking out over the river in wariness, for now, she would do her best to get a decent measure of their new members, she didn't trust them in the least, but at least she knew enough English to communicate effectively with the short one. If worst came to worst, she would put Hirano onto the task of... _controlling_ them, Takashi was sometimes just entirely too trusting. Fool.

Below, Rei noticed Busujima-senpai drooling over the lap of _her_ boyfriend. Her boyfriend who had neither pushed her off or even noticed the attention! Scowling, she reached out and pinched his cheek, tugging it viciously as he awoke with a yelp of pained confusion, startling the others into awareness as well.

Harry glowered tiredly at them as he idly extracted himself from between the wonderfully warm bags and the blond who was still not entirely coherent as he stared rather dazedly at the two girls wearing little more than panties and tops. Not giving them any thought, Harry got to his feet and slithered out of the sunroof behind Saya who squawked in surprise at his sudden appearance.

Climbing to his feet as he heard something of a commotion in the car, the sound of Mamoru apologising in a rather panicked tone while Shizuka-san giggled, he stretched lazily in the warm morning sun before crouching behind Hirano-san and Alice-chan. He smiled as the little girl chirped a bright '_Morning Hari-niichan_,' to him.

"Healthy?" he asked her to which the little girl nodded happily.

"Kohta-chan and I have been singing '_Row, row, row your boat_'! I can even sing in English!" she boasted happily before launching off into her second rendition of the English lyrics, making Harry smile as he sat back and listened before breaking into appreciative applause when she was finished.

All too soon everyone was climbing out and sorting themselves out, the girls retreated to the back of the Humvee to get dressed while Harry lent Mamoru some of Dudley's old clothes as he was dressed in nothing but his nightclothes. Harry tugged a pair of socks on before putting his shoes back on and changing his T-shirt in the process before bundling Mamoru's nightclothes into his bag, both Takashi and Hirano discussing how to use the Ithaca shotgun effectively during the preparations.

"_The recoil on those things isn't half bad but you've got to adjust for it, best to aim for the neck before firing and lean into it while keeping your arms tight_," Harry pointed out as he got back to his feet, tapping his pipe against the sandy river side.

"_You know guns?_" Hirano gushed excitedly.

Harry nodded, "_Friend of mine lives on a Farm back in England. His dad taught us how to use his Double Barrel to hunt during the Summer a while ago. We bagged a few rabbits that made some pretty good pies if memory serves_," he explained. It had been a little bit of a surprise to find a Farmer's son at his school but he later found out that it was Mrs Weasley who was the farmer, her husband Arthur worked as a Technical Advisor in the I.T. Department of the Surrey Borough Council. Harry had never used an Ithaca but he figured it wasn't that different from Molly's double-barrel, a bit more powerful since it was designed for use during Riots (as the name would suggest), which meant that the recoil would be harder than he was familiar with.

"Uhhh..." The two English speakers looked over at Takashi and Mamoru who were staring at them in slightly confused surprise, "Did he say England? I thought he was American," Mamoru admitted, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, suddenly feeling a little left out.

Hirano shook his head, "No, he's English. You can tell by the accent." For a moment, the chubbier teenager fingered his gun before smiling at Mamoru, figuring that he should at least try to get to know their new companions, and better keep an eye on them – Takagi-san didn't get anxious like that without good reason after all. "Is there anything you'd like to ask him?" he offered brightly, "I'll translate for you." Out of everyone in the group, only Hirano and Takagi-san were really in any way proficient with the English Language.

"Really?" Mamoru exclaimed eagerly, "Thanks man, I've been able to get some basic information but it takes some time to get answers. Could you ask him where his family is? He told me he's seventeen and I really doubt he'd be in the country alone." Kohta nodded and relayed the question.

Harry shrugged as he knelt down to pick up Zeke, the little white and black puppy barking eagerly and trying to lick at his face, "_Dead, I think. Our hotel was at Ground Zero I believe_."

"_You didn't check?_"

"_I couldn't. We had a massive argument, I left and tried to get back to the Airport. I planned on just sleeping in the Terminal until it was time to return to England but I got lost and ran into those __**Things**__ a few hours later. I tried calling but there was no answer and I had no way of getting back,_" Harry explained quietly, stroking Zeke's head with his free hand. Hirano didn't mention how the other boy didn't seem all that torn up about the possibility of his family's death, he would have to tell Takagi-san about this, it didn't speak well about the older male's state of mind or personality if he had no emotional disturbance at the possibility of it.

"What was all that about?" Takashi muttered, Mamoru just shrugged before blinking and looking over Hirano's shoulder, a rather stupid grin spreading over his face. "What is it?" the dark haired teenager asked, following suit only to blush drastically at the sight of the girls in their '_combat uniforms_'.

"Is there a problem?" Rei asked, smirking as she shifted slightly to give her boyfriend a better look at her outfit, her green school uniform plus black knee and elbow pads and golfer's gloves, black straps across her shoulders and under her breasts supporting a Springfield M1A1. Behind her stood Busujima-san in a similar uniform top and a black skirt with prominent slits up her thighs, black lace stockings held up on her lean powerful legs by means of suspender straps, knee high lace up boots completing the image as she held her Bokken in a deceptively loose grasp. On Rei's other side was Takagi-san in a white jacket and a short dark green pleated skirt, a black sports bra visible through the unzipped section of her white jacket.

Harry eyed them before pointing at Rei and saying something that had everyone blinking and the chestnut haired girl shying backwards a little defensively, scowling as though he had insulted her.

"Relax Miyamoto-san. He was just asking if there was another set of knee and elbow pads in the back," Takagi told her flatly before she went off to find him a set.

After returning with the requested items, Harry accepted them with a quiet thank you and retreated to the back of the Humvee in silence, he didn't look at anyone, nor contribute to any of the conversations around him. Watching him from the corner of her eye, Saya frowned in confusion, why was he withdrawing like that? Was he unwell? No, it couldn't be, Mamoru-san was sat beside him and there were no problems there. Then realisation struck her like a physical blow, it was because of Miyamoto's reaction to his question, it was because of the wary glances Hirano was sending him, not to mention her own distrust. He had picked up on it, he knew they didn't trust or like him and so he was withdrawing away from them.

Hard enough to be caught in the middle of the apocalypse but to be around unfamiliar faces, untrusting gazes and a language you didn't understand... Saya winced and wilted down in her seat, she still didn't trust him but... she began to feel a little empathy for him. He hadn't even done anything and they were treating him as if he might attack them at the drop of the hat.

Knowing what kind of reception he might receive from her father – if he were alive, though she severely doubted that he would have let such a little thing as **Them** kill him – she resolved to be a little nicer.

* * *

Intellectually, Harry could understand their distrust of him, their dislike even. It was hardly a new thing for him, but the fear that accompanied their behaviour, the fear that at any given point they might kick him out of the Humvee and leave him to fend for himself, might kill him just to protect themselves or even use him as some kind of bait for those Things so that they could escape.

The fact that Mamoru had stuck beside him gave him some comfort, even if these people did decide to turf them out either in the middle of the night or in the middle of an attack, at least his friend wouldn't abandon him. At least he wouldn't be alone, Harry flashed the other teenager a small grateful smile and received a toothy reassuring grin in response.

After everything they'd been through, Mamoru wasn't going to ditch him for a bunch of backstabbers with a car.

* * *

"Left! Left, left, turn left!" Takagi screamed at their teacher, everyone clinging onto the upholstery of the Humvee as tightly as possible as they tore through the streets towards Higashi's Hill 2-Choome. Harry had crawled into the seating area and was holding Alice tightly to stop her from bumping her head on anything, or seeing those Things getting splattered across Shizuka-san's front window.

Everyone was shouting as the car swerved to the side and smashed into what looked like wires – crushing several of the Things between the wires and the vehicle, dismembering them as if with cheese-wire, Harry shifted his grasp on Alice to make doubly certain she couldn't see any of the gore painting their windows. All of a sudden the Humvee lurched forward as Shizuka-san figured out how to unlock the tyres, the problem was the large solid concrete wall looming in front of them. All too soon she was ramming a foot down onto the break and yanking up on the Emergency Hand Break at the same time, making the whole car lurch against its own momentum as the tyres once again locked into place.

And Miyamoto Rei went flying off the roof to land with a shuddering bang on the bonnet and bounce off, hitting the pavement with equal force.

Immediately, Takashi was jumping down beside her with the Ithaca shotgun in hand. Harry looked over his shoulder at Mamoru who nodded firmly, holding out the stainless steel-pipe that had been the British teenager's weapon of choice since he received it.

Outside was a scene from Hell, there were barely five paces between **Them** and the Humvee and a scant six between Miyamoto-san and death. Hirano and Takashi were shooting as best they could but there were just too many of those Things, a solid sixty maybe seventy of them were shambling in front of them, clogging up the road, and more were on the way, having been drawn by the sound of gunshots and from following the Humvee through its mad race through the streets.

"_Komuro-san, get Miyamoto-san under the wires!_" Harry called as he lashed out with his pipe to give Busujima-san some extra breathing room, "_If she's on the other side she's safe and we can concentrate on retreating! Hurry!_" he snapped. Just because the car was stuck on this side of the wire didn't mean that they were and if the wire was there then that meant it was to keep the Things out, They couldn't pass it. Hopefully the other side would be clear, if not, Mamoru could carry the injured girl as they made a run for Takagi-san's house, she did say it was just around the corner.

"Of course! Komuro! Get Miyamoto-san on the other side of the wires, we'll cover you! Once she's on the other side we can follow! Quickly!" Hirano barked as he shot several more of the Things as they approached.

Everything moved so fast after that point, with both Harry and Hirano covering Takashi as he picked up Miyamoto-san and managed to manoeuvre her and himself through the wire barrier, gently setting her down on the pavement as he moved to the side of the Humvee to catch Alice and Zeke as Hirano lowered them down into the dark haired teenager's waiting grasp. Takagi quickly followed before Shizuka-san started to pass their bags out from the back of the Humvee to Hirano and then to Takashi while Takagi set them aside and kept an eye out for any of **Them** on the other side of the Wire. Busujima-san, Mamoru and Harry were sweaty and panting as they worked furiously to beat back the Things from the Humvee, giving Shizuka-san the time she needed to climb out and drop down onto the other side of the wire.

"Busujima-san!" Harry called, gesturing for her to climb atop the Humvee first and drop down.

It was probably a bad idea to make their best fighter go over first but now that Hirano was able to cover them again, it was a lot safer for her to quickly vault onto the top of the Humvee and extend a hand for the next person. Harry didn't even have a chance to protest before Mamoru was pushing him backwards into her waiting hold, it was only fast reflexes that prevented him from overbalancing her and accidentally pulling her down into the street again. Mamoru followed after with a yelp of alarm as the two of them hauled him up – barely missing the snapping teeth of a Thing in a business suit.

It was like the second they were out of reach that everyone went boneless with relief.

"Well, that was more fun than I would like to have in a while," Busujima-san admitted, smiling slightly as she caught her breath and rubbed the back of her neck.

Mamoru snorted as he picked at the clothes he borrowed from Hari-senpai, now completely splattered with blood, "You can say that again," he muttered, glancing at the smaller male who was rubbing at his arm with a wince of pain – finger marks already beginning to discolour his pale skin, one of **Them** had gotten a very firm grasp of his arm and it was only thanks to the knee pads and those months of learning Muay Thai from Charlie Weasley that saved his life. "C'mon, lets go, Takagi-san's place is around the corner. Miyamoto-san needs to get her back looked at, she hit the ground pretty hard," Mamoru pointed out as he got to his feet and hopped down on the other side of the wire.

Shaking slightly from fading adrenalin, Harry slid down behind him, stumbling slightly before turning to help Hirano down behind him, taking care with the guns and the bag of ammo he had along with them. "_We're going to need some more ammunition soon_," the British teenager muttered when he noticed how depleted their magazines were getting.

Hirano nodded mournfully, "_Hopefully the Police Department Miyamoto-san's father works at will have some more_," he pointed out.

"Everyone! Please step away from the wire and come this way!" an authoritative female voice called from further down the street, several individuals possessing water cannons rushing over.

Busujima-san frowned at the woman who spoke, "Forgive my rudeness but, who are you?" she asked coolly, clearly not trusting the other woman.

The figure laughed a little before pulling her helmet off, "No, no, please forgive me for not being faster. I had hoped that I would have been able to save my daughter and her friends, selfish though the thought was," the plum haired woman admitted, smiling kindly at the stunned young woman.

"MAMA!" Takagi cried, recognising the woman and rushing over, throwing her arms around her, sobbing in a mixture of relief and happiness.

* * *

The chance to take a nice hot bath and sleep in a proper bed was thoroughly appreciated by everyone that afternoon, it had been a small trifle to dig out some clothes that would fit the boys as Mamoru was quite tall and Hirano quite broad while Harry was about as tall as the average woman and a few hairs short of being anorexic (Thanks Aunt Petunia) so pretty much everything ended up being too big for him.

Anything afterwards was just a daze as they all ate in the dining room, the food was great but everyone was so tired that they didn't taste it much as they slowly choked it down before stumbling, bleary eyed and exhausted up the stairs towards the guest rooms. Sadly, it was in the darkness that everything came crashing down, when they finally had the time to realise what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Alice cried, she cried and she couldn't stop and she couldn't sleep. Hiccuping tears that she tried to muffle into her pillow as she struggled with her grief over her father, grief that she had put out of her mind in the face of their circumstances, in the face of trying to escape over the river, of meeting her new friends and facing **Them** again. Until now, the fact that her father was dead had just been a thing, a statement, but now, in the darkness, without him, it finally sank in completely. Her father was dead. He died in front of her. He died trying to find a safe place for her.

He died.

Harry had been expecting something like this, the sound of her crying cut through him even in the hallway, where he had been stood outside the door waiting for it. Silently, he crept into the girls' room, he could see Shizuka-san from across the room, she had sat up and looked as though she were about to go over and do exactly what he was doing right now and try to sooth Alice. Their eyes met and in the gloom, he tried to tell her that he meant no harm, nothing dodgy about it, and she smiled, nodding in understanding as a smile slowly broke across his face before he curled up with Alice, wrapping her tightly in the blankets and drawing her close. Fingers carding through her slightly damp hair as she knotted her tiny fingers into his shirt and cried into his chest until she finally wore herself out and fell asleep.

The next morning proved only a little awkward when Busujima-san and Takagi-san checked in on them and found Harry fast asleep with Alice curled up on his chest. It was only Shizuka-san wide awake and sat at the near-by desk making up some ointment for Miyamoto-san's back that prevented Takagi-san from freaking out and screaming the house down about his being a paedophile. And if anyone else noticed that Mamoru's eyes were red and sore-looking as if he'd spent half the night crying when they sat down for breakfast, they didn't say anything and the slight tension in his shoulders relaxed as Busujima-san idly dished him up some Miso soup.

The rest of the day was spent with nothing to do, Alice ran around playing with Zeke and eating cakes that the servants brought her. Mamoru hung around with Hirano, the two of them chatting and quickly becoming pretty close over their somewhat mutual interest in guns, though the blond had none of the knowledge or experience that Hirano did, he was still incredibly interested though and admired the shorter teenager's skill. Takashi was helping Miyamoto-san and Shizuka-san upstairs while Busujima-san was off doing god only knows what, Takagi-san was speaking with her mother and from the raised voices Harry could hear, it wasn't going well. That just left him to wonder around for an hour or so before sheer paranoia and a distrust of what the future held drove him to scrounging around for spare clothes and various other things that would be useful for survival out later.

He still wasn't one-hundred percent certain that he wouldn't wake up to several people throwing him out over the barriers and into the waiting teeth of those Things. He had received more than a few suspicious and dark looks from various people in and around the mansion – it drove him to continue carrying the stainless steel pipe with him at all times. If someone was going to attack him, then he was sure as hell going to defend himself.

A map of the surrounding area and a compass was the first thing he went in search of, Geography was one of his favourite subjects in school, mainly because it showed so many different places around the world that were no where near the Dursleys. He would have loved to move to New Zealand or maybe Alaska when he was able to, India and China looked beautiful too, he wasn't much of a city guy in all honesty, he liked nature. In response to that, he was pretty good at map reading and navigation, just don't ask him about soil acidity or clay content or, hell, piping and agriculture, not his area, true he sat there and listened to Mrs Weasley nattering away but unless it was to do with livestock he was pretty clueless.

He found the map in a small niche beside the front door, there were a lot of flyers in there as well, take-out stuff and cleaner advertisements, government propaganda and even religious stuff. At least, he thought that was what they were from the pictures.

After that, he hunted down some clothes for both himself and for Mamoru along with another bag that the other teenager could use, mostly he found work overalls but they would suffice, they were thick canvas and padded at the knee. Several of those went into the bags along with whatever tops he could get his hands on and a few pairs of trousers, they would have to visit some kind of clothing shop for socks and underwear. He couldn't find any water-proofs but he did find a collapsible umbrella which went in.

That was when Busujima-san came to collect him, apparently there was some kind of Team meeting taking place in Miyamoto-san's room and he was invited. The look of surprise on his face when he came in made both Takagi and Hirano wince slightly at the result of their rather obvious distrust in him.

The majority of the conversation when completely over his head but then Takagi-san started shouting and crying at the same time, he very nearly took the pipe in his hands to the back of Komuro-san's head when he abruptly grabbed the smaller girl by the front of her clothes and bellowed at her, hauling her into the air. It was Busujima-san who ended up physically restraining him as Komuro shouted at the pigtailed girl.

To his complete confusion, she smiled and calmed down at the abusive treatment, leaving him floundering in confusion and a little horror at the way the other teenager had just seemed to snap like that. The idea that he would react like that and attack a girl in a fit of temper disgusted him, unless she was a fighter in her own right, he couldn't see... It was vulgar to attack another being or person that had no ability to defend themselves.

He exchanged a look with Mamoru, the two of them frowning in concern over what just happened, neither of them very comfortable with the way Komuro had handled it, Harry through uncomfortable reminders of Vernon's own fits of temper as a child and Mamoru through that one drunken evening when he got forceful with his only decent girlfriend and the resulting shame and discomfort he now felt over it. However, fairly soon the commotion taking place in the courtyard below caught their attention.

Takagi-san's father had finally returned.

* * *

**And the end of Chapter Four. This one was rather difficult for multiple reasons that I shan't really get into. Chapter five coming soon.**

**Some people have expressed concerns about the romance in this**: Its not going to be instant attraction lets jump into bed and fuck each other's brains out for _any_ of them. They've got more important things to worry about and I doubt we want little ones running around at this point (Remember, Pregnancy is the number one STI in the world and being teenagers, I doubt hormones will let them stop long enough to scavenge a condom). As it stands I have three main arcs for this planned.

Escape and gather survivors – safehaven and defend – mobilise and fight.

At the moment, we're still in the escape and gather survivors phase, if romance is going to occur, it will most likely occur during safehaven and defend. We'll see the beginnings of _physical_ attraction in the beginning, just little things with nothing coming of it, but the relationship development won't take place until later. Romance is and isn't a massive plotpoint for this, its hard to explain but this story is going to be largely character driven as the Dead have no agenda beyond '**fuuuuud**', so all our antagonists are going to be human and they're all going to be in the same situation.

I just want to get the pairing issues sorted and out of the way _now_ so I can start the character developments that would best work towards them. Like I said, they are and they aren't large plotpoints, the way characters interact with one another affects everything about the plot so the intimate relationships between certain individuals do carry a lot of weight with various points in the story.

And no worries, unless everyone requests it, I'm not writing any manner of sex scene.

**Kohta/Saya forever! **


	5. E5: War with the Dead

_I do not own Highschool of the Dead, nor do I own Harry Potter, both are the respective properties of those who created, drew and published them. This story and all listed Original characters are mine, please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. With that said – please enjoy the story and share your thoughts and opinions with me._

Summary: **A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.**

* * *

**EPISODE FIVE**** – War with the Dead**

* * *

The situation at Takagi-san's house had quickly gotten out of hand.

Harry sighed as he jogged through the house looking for Hirano, he had gone storming off after getting lectured by Busujima-san and while he honestly had no idea what was being said, the tone of voice was hard to misinterpret. Hirano was reaching a breaking point, he was getting restless, anxious and snappy. The way he lashed out at Komuro was only more evidence towards the fact when before now they had been solidly united as the protectors of the girls. Perhaps it was the sudden appearance of himself and Mamoru adding more friction to the team? Truly, Mamoru seemed to hold a greater appreciation of Hirano's skill with guns and guns in general than Komuro who didn't know how to use them and would rather stick to melee weaponry which he could handle better, on top of that was Busujima-san who was clearly skilled with a sword, it was as if he received next to no appreciation as a firearms-specialist, now he was getting scolded for it? Plus the constant suspicion against Harry himself, that would have been wearing nerves thin, constantly having to look over your shoulder in case of attack, Harry was used to being looked at with suspicion and scorn by his relatives so it really was no skin off his nose, annoying and frustrating yes and a little frightening when he thought of his position, the lingering fear of being thrown aside to survive on his own because he wasn't '_one of them_'.

Hirano needed to get something off his chest, if Harry could provide the other teenager with a willing ear, perhaps things would iron themselves out after he managed to unload.

But, on top of issues amidst their own group, it seemed as though they would soon have to face the backlash of Don Takagi's ill-planned and poorly executed _demonstration of friendship._ Whatever anyone said of Takagi-san's father, the fact that he wasn't at all very good at reading the public mind-set was quite obvious. His beheading of a subordinate who had been infected only proved that in the most... _brutal_ of fashions. The fact that he did so as if it were some kind of political statement for the horrified survivors who had seen enough pain and bloodshed and horror was just foolish. He was shoving the reality of their situation into their faces, not realising that it was too soon, and too far away at present, for them to actually accept his words. They were turning their faces, pretending that it wasn't happening, getting unruly. Harry wasn't blind, unrest and discontent were growing amidst the survivors they had rescued and being a group of teenagers, children, they would get caught in the middle of a political struggle with everyone trying to dictate what was best for them. The fact they carried weapons as well would be an issue and being a foreigner he could expect the worst of the treatment.

"Niichan! Niichan! Kohta-chan is, Kohta-chan is in big trouble!" Alice cried out as she ran through the hall over to Komuro. Harry frowned as he leaned over the bannister, Kohta was Hirano's first name, that meant something had happened to him in the split second that he had been separated from the group!

Vaulting over the bannister, Harry landed and shot off after Komuro and Alice as they ran outside, the little girl leading the way to where Hirano was on the floor surrounded by a group of rather hard faced men and Takagi's father. Komuro swore and sped up, easily outpacing Alice with Harry right beside him.

"– BACK TO WHAT I WAS! I'M DONE WITH THE OLD ME! I THOUGHT I'D FINALLY FOUND SOMETHING I WAS GOOD AT!" Hirano shouted, sobbing as he hunched over his guns protectively.

"Such as?" Takagi's father asked, imperceptible and stony as ever, his face displaying nothing but disapproval.

"Such as protecting your daughter!" Komuro snapped as he firmly stood behind his friend, looking a lot braver than he was feeling. Glaring, Harry took up a flanking position, arms folded as he tried to think of a way to get them out of this mess. The fact that the people here were all part of an Ultra Nationalist Party, with Takagi-san's father being the Head of said Party, just meant that the majority of anything he would say would be rejected out of hand for no other reason than he was a foreigner – he was really getting fed up with everything coming back to that one issue.

"Yes sir, but since all this started, Saya's been... your daughter has been under the protection of Hirano here," Komuro explained in response to whatever the man had said while Harry's mind had been elsewhere. He had an idea, now he just needed Takagi-san to translate for him, otherwise it would be useless.

"Kohta-chan!" Alice cried, finally catching up and throwing herself at the kneeling boy, clutching at his clothes and glaring for all she was worth at Takagi's father, her chin wobbling slightly with suppressed tears of anger at the nasty man who hurt Kohta-chan's feelings and made him cry.

"Even I can see how much courage he has, Don Takagi," Busujima-san pointed out placidly as she made her way over, Takagi-san right beside her stalking through the stunned Underlings like a furious hurricane through a leaf pile.

"And I can too, Papa," the pink haired girl snarled as she stood protectively in front of her classmate, Miyamoto-san and Shizuka-san arriving with Mamoru who likewise stood on Hirano's other side. "He may be a freak and a worthless Gun-Otaku, but its because of him that I'm here. He's one of my Nakama! He's been protecting me – _unlike you Papa!_" the girl shouted, her hands fisted tightly in anger over the fact that her father dared to not only abandon her but then reduce the one who had protected her in his place to a quivering sobbing wreck upon the floor. There was a moment of silence and to Harry, it looked like the man was going to become unpleasant.

"_Takagi-san, may I say something?_" Harry asked quietly, making her blink out of her self righteous thoughts, "_Could you translate for me?_" She opened her mouth to protest, to tell him that no matter what came out of his mouth her father would never listen to a _Gaijin_. "_Please?_" But then she paused, her mother was technically a Half-Blood. She was full Japanese but she had been born in America where she learned and worked, yet Souichirou still took her as a wife and after a single day of knowing her. Her father was an odd man, perhaps he would be able to listen to reason, Harry had already shown an aptitude to common sense that she didn't have – a Genius though he most assuredly was _not_.

She nodded and knowing her mother had understood every word, didn't bother to announce what was happening, "My Friend wants to know if... anyone here has any formal firearms training with weapons of this calibre, can they handle and maintain these guns?" she echoed, a small frown of confusion coming to her face, of course they didn't, guns were illegal in Japan and she was fairly certain that the only police officers they had as members of the Party had never made it into the Specials. There was no way they would have the training to handle the weapons, training that Hirano... did.

A brief glance at the collective men produced nothing but shaken heads, even her mother shook her head ruefully, she knew how to handle firearms yes, but not the same ones that were in Hirano's grasp. Her training was in small hand helds, pistols and semi-automatics, not rifles.

"Then our argument is moot. Hirano-san has received training to handle Firearms of this calibre whilst overseas. To remove these weapons from him now would... would be like removing a well cared for Meitou from the hands of a Master and handing it to a Delinquent who had some vague skill with a rusty pocket knife." Takagi honestly couldn't believe she was saying this to her father, even if she was just translating what the green eyed teenager behind her was saying. Never in her life had she won and argument with her parents, it was next to impossible, but even she could say that this argument had been won – not only had they proven that Hirano would be the best person to keep hold of the guns but they had also managed to twist the situation to make it as though taking the guns away and handing them to someone else would be dishonourable and against the very grain of their Nationalist Values.

Don Takagi stared at his daughter for a moment, mulling over what he had just heard come from her mouth, he then looked to the Gaijin stood behind her, the one speaking through her. The boy was barely older than her, he was short and thin, almost doll-like, but his eyes displayed a lot of maturity, maturity his daughter lacked and a certain sharpness he had witnessed in very few people. None of them stuffy politicians who sat on their backsides in luxury, it was a sharpness only just beginning to take form in the gazes of the teenagers around him, the loss of innocence and an awareness of the world's true nature.

Abruptly, he nodded sharply, conceding the fight. The Gaijin, no, the young man was correct, to remove the guns from the only individual – even if he were a child – capable of using them would be folly. Turning, he ignored the way his wife smiled proudly as they walked away, Saya would be fine, she had good men protecting her, his hands were not needed.

Harry released a shaky breath when the larger man nodded and turned away, his hands were shaking slightly as he managed to relax, for a moment there, it felt as though Don Takagi were looking into his very being and weighing and evaluating his worth on the most base-level. Somehow, for some reason, it felt as though he had passed some kind of test.

He tensed up again, almost painfully so, when Don Takagi suddenly turned around and issued some kind of order to Takagi, an order which she didn't take too kindly to judging by the argument that broke out. Whatever was said, it looked like Hirano was still in the clear so he found himself relaxing again, watching in confusion as Miyamoto-san staggered off, fleeing from Shizuka-san who was laughing in a rather creepy fashion and chasing her. Busujima-san left with Don Takagi while Takagi Saya left with Hirano and Komuro, her mother leading Alice and Zeke off – which left Harry and Mamoru on their lonesome.

The two exchanged glances before idly trailing after Alice and the Lady Takagi.

* * *

The sound of a mobile phone ringing jarred Harry out of his previous activities, the tune of '_Breaking me Down_' by SOIL splitting the air, that was the Ring Tone he had assigned to one of his bestfriends, Hermione Granger, a girl he met once at the Global Rock Challenge, he had been working at a Crew Member and she had been a performer from a Private school several miles away. They made friends and kept in contact with one another, mainly through letters and e-mail.

He quickly pushed Alice and Zeke out of his lap – being careful not to hurt them – as he lunged for his phone.

"Hermione? Hermione is that you?" he asked the phone as soon as he picked it up.

"_Harry! Thank god, where are you?_" Not Hermione, her boyfriend Blaise Zabini.

"Japan. Dude, everything's gone to hell over here, are you and Mione alright?" he asked, gripping the phone tightly.

"_Yes, Hermione and I are fine. We're, uh, well we're in a bit of a tight spot at the moment. Holed up in a Historical Ruin on the coast,_" he explained and Harry could hear what was unmistakably Luna Lovegood's dreamy voice in the background, her words were indistinguishable but the fact that she was there and alive made parts of him relax that he hadn't even been aware were tense.

"You need to get away from there. Those things are drawn by sound, they're blind otherwise, the sound of the water breaking on the rocks will draw them."

"_Yeah, Hermione's already figured it out. Listen, you're the Geography Buff, where would be the best place to head to?_" Harry flinched slightly at the unmistakable sound of a shotgun in the background and Hermione's voice yell for more shells.

"North," Harry decided, "It'll be insanely difficult but your best bet would be to either get to Scotland or the Lake District, the terrain there will be the best for holding those Things back and give you the best manoeuvrability while providing food and shelter. It'll be cold but with Summer coming you won't have to worry about snow falls at least."

"_Know any castles and shit that would be helpful?_"

"Only in Cornwall and the South Coast. There are a few islands up north that'd help you. Isle of Skye sticks out the most right now, only problem is the midges and I'm not sure if the infection can be passed on through mosquito or midge bites. Better to be safe than sorry."

"_Got it, we'll make a move come morning. Want to talk to Hermione quickly?_"

"Please," Harry agreed, slowly making his way back over to the sofa and sitting down, ignoring the confused and anxious gazes of Alice and Mamoru, Takagi's mother was smiling happily on his behalf and he managed to give them a small smile which immediately had Alice grinning and Mamoru relaxing.

"_Harry?_" It was her, her voice, she was alright. He practically collapsed back into the cushions as several of the raw nerves that had kept him functioning so far relaxed.

"Hermione, you alright?" he croaked, eyes prickling suspiciously.

"_I'm fine. A few bruises and I've got blisters on my blisters – those things went for us in the middle of my mum's birthday party. High-heels are not meant for running for your life. Hollywood lies_," she ranted at him, he knew she was putting it on but the familiar tone of self-righteous indignation made him smile.

"Gunna send angry letters?" he asked, the smile growing as she loudly said she would as soon as she found an appropriately large red angry pen with which to write. "I'm glad you're alright, have you heard from Ron or any of the other Weasleys?"

"_Heard from them? They're downstairs going mental on those walking Corpses. Percy and Arthur are the only ones who didn't make it, we've even managed to rescue Bill's girlfriend though I get the impression Ginny disapproves. For a French Chippy, Fleur's quite handy with that hand-held sickle scythe_," the brunette explained on the other end of the line, "_Oh no, they're breaking the line! Charlie get down there and back your brother's up. Cedric, stop messing around with the cannon, its too old to fire and we don't have any of the ignition sticks. _

"_Sorry Harry but I'm going to have to hang up now. Things are getting hairy. I'm glad you're alright. But get your backside back to England ASAP, we need you to stop Ron from killing Malfoy._"

"Why the hell is Malfoy there?" Harry asked in surprise.

"_Well we couldn't very well let him get eaten, could we? Blame Neville in any case. You know he's been crushing on the ferret for years_. Diggory get DOWN THERE!" The line went dead.

Harry sighed as he slid his phone shut, it sounded like a real party was taking place back home, he glanced at Alice and Mamoru and wondered if he was being uncharitable or just plain a bastard by wishing he was there instead of here, amongst strangers. Plus, the mental image of '_Never broken a nail_' prissy-pretty boy Malfoy slumming it with the Farm Weasels and having to get slathered with blood and guts to survive was just too surreal for him to believe without witnessing.

"Good news?" Takagi's mother asked politely in English.

Harry nodded, smiling down at the phone, "Yeah. My family is alright."

* * *

Harry laughed at all the excitement taking place around him, the Buggy was an awesome piece of equipment he would give it that most definitely, but in all honesty he felt the Humvee they were forced to abandon was a superior vehicle. Not only did it have a greater horse-power, better miles to the gallon but also it came equipped with a roof, in other words, they could safely sleep in it should the need ever arise and shelter be unavailable. Provided everyone kept quiet, **They** would have no idea anyone was even in the vehicle and proceed to treat it like any other round-about in the street. Sadly, it wasn't his call to make, Komuro – no, Takashi, he may as well get used to calling him by his given name considering how they were all relying on each other for survival, _Takashi_ was the Leader and thus it was his decision as to whether or not they went back to try and salvage the Humvee or they go with the safer option and take the Buggy instead.

Judging by the grin on the younger teenager's face as he took the thing out for a test-drive, they would be sticking with the Buggy. Absently, Harry wondered if they had even thought about going back and salvaging the Humvee or had they forgotten about it completely? It wouldn't surprise him.

Sighing quietly he sat down on one of the near-by low walls that decorated the Takagi Estate, he offered the passing by Bus- _Saeko_ a small smile as she passed by, wearing some new adjustments to her boots in the form of what looked like Muay Thai shin pads with a distinctive Military feel to them, ankle, foot and knee guards thrown in for extra protection. She had also followed his and Miya- _Rei_'s examples and donned a set of elbow pads and gloves – no doubt to prevent any further damage to her hands with the unfamiliar and no doubt little used wrappings of her new sword's hilt. No matter what callouses she had, fresh sword wrapping would be severely uncomfortable on the hands after hours of continuous use, it was safer to use the gloves than risk getting blisters _under_ a callous. Harry had suffered one of those before, he was careful to _never_ let it _ever_ happen again.

He frowned at the short argument that seemed to break out, were Takashi and Rei planning on leaving? And Saeko was going with them, whether Rei wanted her to or not. Harry was beginning to sense some kind of sexual tension between the three of them, this could prove to be problematic for everyone if their relationship issues ended up blowing up in everyone's faces.

"_AHA!_ I did it! I remembered!" Shizuka suddenly exclaimed, pumping her fist in self-congratulatory satisfaction. "Yes, yes, that's it! No doubt about it!" she giggled happily, pulling Alice-chan into a hug, smooshing the little girl's face into her amble bosom. "I remembered my friend's phone-number! I didn't bring my phone _or_ my address book so I haven't been able to remember until now!" she explained in an apologetic and slightly embarrassed tone.

"Friend?" Takashi queried, breaking away from the '_argument_' between himself, Rei and Saeko. Realisation lit his face, "The one with the guns, and the Humvee?" Well, well, maybe he hadn't forgotten the Humvee after all.

Shizuka nodded, "That's the one. She's in a special team of prefecture police. She's part of a S.A.T. so she's probably still alive. If we could get together somehow, that would be _amazing_."

Mamoru nodded in agreement and, recalling what the blond had said about Shizuka-sensei's friend, Takashi nodded in agreement. Getting the fifth best police officer in the whole country would be incredible, she would probably be even better than Kohta with those guns, it would be a slaughter. It... it would be like equipping God-Mode or something.

"So... phone, _phone!_" Shizuka squeaked in excitement, impatiently bouncing on the balls of her feet as she held her hand out. Mamoru tried not to stare but all that bouncing did things to her chest that were just damn painful, and hard to look away from, Harry didn't react at all but then again he was from the West, women over there had huge boobs, if the articles in his Dad's dirty magazines were true, Shizuka's J-cup over here was a D to an E-cup over there. Nothing to get bent out of shape over. Then again, maybe Harry was just weird, he didn't even pause to admire the sights of the other hotties he quite happily called comrades when they were in little more than panties and tank-tops. He'd have to ask him about that later.

Glancing at the British teenager in curiosity, Mamoru was honestly startled to see him suddenly jump to his feet in shock, grabbing his pipe and run past him. Whipping around he blinked in shock to see him following after Rei, maybe he did have a thing for – no, no, she was _pissed_, she was pissed off as all hell and she was heading straight for that greasy looking guy in the suit, _bayonet at the fore!_

"– at least help these poor students? I'm fine on my own," the greasy guy was saying as they finally caught up with Rei's furious charge, Harry having stopped first and was now hovering, clearly not understanding but knowing all the same that this was something extremely personal that he shouldn't interfere with.

"You're a real Saint, aren't you? Shidou-'_sensei_'," the girl purred maliciously, jutting the bayonet forward into the man's face, she was clearly enjoying the way the man paled to an almost grey shade as he turned to look at her. Mamoru was somewhat surprised to see him trembling slightly, either the look on her face was that evil or he was that much of a coward and she had that much of a reason to kill him with that blade. Considering how she'd use that thing to kill **Them**, even a little cut could probably Infect and Turn him, he had a good reason to be afraid of her.

"M-Miyamoto-san, I'm so glad you're alive and well..." He was clearly lying and already a cold sweat was beginning to sheen his features.

"Do you know _how_ I got so good at Soujutsu? Its because I was instructed in the use of a Bayonet!" Harry had heard of '_frigid voices_' but he had rarely ever heard them, but right now, Mi-_Rei_'s voice could have very well killed a mammoth with how glacial she sounded. "And I learned from my father who had _never_ known failure in the Prefectural Police! He suffered because of you. He's the kind of person who can take anything but he was brought to tears as he asked for _my_ forgiveness! ITS ALL YOUR FAULT THAT I WAS HELD BACK A YEAR!" she screamed furiously, her icy tones shattering with the force of the righteous fury contained in her small curvaceous body, her glove concealed knuckles bleached white with the force she gripped her Weapon, shaking with anger as she held herself back from killing the miserable leech in front of her. "And I've known it all along! You were the only one managing the grades! But I took it! My Dad told me that if his investigation went well he could have you and your father arrested... but... now..." The blade of her knife hovered so dangerously close to his skin that Harry could see the faint red lines on his flesh from the tip that hadn't yet pierced his skin.

"A-are you going to become a murderer?" the pale man, Shidou-sensei, stuttered greasily, "Do you, the daughter of a police officer, intend to become a Criminal?" he asked, growing more confident as he felt he had pin-pointed her area of weakness in the argument. He was so confident she wouldn't kill him, Harry had only just been able to follow the basics of the conversation, the barest of bones, but the fact that this man had ruined Rei's school and upset her father somehow, Harry got the impression that she would stab him no matter what argument he came up with.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING MORE FROM YOU!" Rei screamed.

"Then kill him!"

Harry jerked, looking around at Don Takagi who had abruptly arrived on the scene. Trust him to stick his nose in. Harry sighed softly and folded his arms, he had been keeping out of this because he got the impression that this was something Rei needed to face and deal with by herself, she was still a child in a lot of senses and she needed this, needed to face this man and do whatever it was she needed to do to come to terms with what happened at her school. He doubted it was rape, if it were, Takashi would be the one trying to kill him and he certainly wouldn't have stopped to have a nice little chat with the grease-leech before hand, the man's brains would already be staining the flagstones of the driveway.

"I know that man's father. But that means nothing now," the older man declared firmly, his eyes sweeping over the scene and taking everything in with the same cold acknowledgement that Harry would have expected from a gritty old Military Commander, a Colonel or higher, someone who'd seen it all and lived to tell the tale and now watched others make the same dumb mistakes and then clean up the mess and manage the situation to prevent the worst of the fall-out. "If that is what you want then kill him."

Several of the civilian survivors began to protest in horror, unable to stomach the thought of such a young girl, the daughter of an upstanding police officer, murdering a man in cold blood right in front of them. It was heinous! Inconceivable.

"OF COURSE!" the man roared, silencing them, "If I had reason to, I would do it myself!"

Takashi growled and lunged forward, Harry grabbed his arm and yanked him back harshly, shaking his head. "Rei-san think. Rei-san do this one-person(1). Takashi-san two-person no," he explained in broken Japanese gently placing his other hand on the younger teenager's chest and pushing him away from the confrontation. "Watch. Rei-san do this one-person."

"No, Hari-san, Rei can't –" Takashi began, Harry shook his head and gave him another slight push backwards when he felt the younger teenager try to move forward.

"Takashi, Miyamoto-san needs to make this decision by herself. Harii-san agrees, this isn't something any of us should interfere with. She needs to do this alone," Saeko explained firmly from where she was stood, arms folded and frowning at the exchange between what should have been a classmate of hers and one of her most disliked teachers, possibly one of her only _loathed_ teachers.

"Go ahead... kill me..." Shidou exclaimed, somewhat hysterically as he spread his arms out in invitation, almost as if he were offering himself as a sacrifice... or a _martyr_. "Kill me. Take my life away. You're free to go down that painful path! Me being a teacher and you being a student, it would be an appropriate... _learning experience_."

Silence reigned through the court-yard, nothing but the rustling of leaves and clothing as the wind swept past them, Alice squirming uncomfortably in Shizuka's hold as her eyes were covered by the blonde teacher in an attempt to save her innocence. Takashi swallowed and looked down at Harry desperately, trying to plead with the smaller teenager to let him go to Rei's side but green eyes only flicked away from the confrontation to give him a warning look before turning back. Clearly he wasn't going to let Takashi go. Mamoru swallowed uncomfortably, gripping his bat anxiously, half egging the brunette on and half hoping she wouldn't do that horrible deed and kill a human being, **They** were different, **They** weren't human, it would destroy her on some level to kill a human. He deserved it, he definitely did, but at the same time, his death wasn't worth the anguish it would bring the pretty girl when she finally acknowledged that she had killed a living, breathing, feeling human being.

Slowly, as if she were still debating whether or not to kill him, Rei lowered her bayonet and turned away from her former school teacher. It was as if a wave broke over the group as sighs of relief were exhaled and tense shoulders slumped, smiles curving on the faces of Takashi, Shizuka and Saeko.

"... Is that what you think?" Don Takagi asked as Rei brushed past him, his voice oddly gentle yet no less demanding of an answer.

Rei didn't stop, nor did she pause, "_You're not even worth killing_," she hissed, dismissing her former teacher's life, actions and crimes entirely. Denying his existence entirely as something not even worth her energy to be angry at – but she was, and that was why she dismissed him, because it would insult and anger him far more than killing him. Murder was acknowledgement that you were worth the time and effort and hatred it took to kill, to be denied that...

Shidou's face twisted in black fury as Don Takagi roared with laughter, "Well said!" the Right Wing Nationalist exclaimed, thoroughly approving of the teenagers, the young adults, his daughter was associating with.

"_you have no idea what I went through to get this far,_" Shidou hissed, muttering furiously under his breath as his body trembled with impotent anger, "_little swine like you should just keep their mouths shut and_ – "

"You, leave." Shidou jerked in shock and alarm as Don Takagi barked at him, stalking past him and glaring at the students who had been protected within the Mini-Bus, "You over there as well. You've already been tainted by this man's schemes. You should cleanse yourselves but for now, we do not have any open space! Leave here in the bus you came to us in!" he roared, gesturing at his men to see Shidou and his _diciples_ out of the estate.

Harry wasn't entirely sure about the intricacies of this incident but... there was just something satisfying in seeing that man and the teenagers who came with him getting physically removed from the area with extreme prejudice. He smirked, folding his arms and exchanging a glance with Takashi, the younger teenager didn't look happy about the situation but that was probably because he wasn't happy with the idea of anyone getting thrown out to face **Them**.

"Do you think that was wrong?" Mrs Takagi asked, approaching the pair.

Takashi sighed, "I can't say I'm happy about it, but if I were in Don Takagi's place... I don't know what I would have done. Sorry," he admitted flatly, he liked to think he would have been kind and allowed them to stay but he knew that he probably wouldn't have, he was selfish and petty and he knew that if he had been in Rei's shoes he would have killed Shidou and not lost a moment of sleep over it. Just like how he had left that Yakuza-wannabie who tried to rape her back at the Petrol station to get eaten by **Them**, he didn't regret it, he didn't lose sleep over it... but it opened his eyes to the cruel reality. This was his world now, and it wasn't going to change any time soon.

"I respect that kind of thought," Don Takagi boomed, "But things are not going to change back to how they once were. If you want to stay alive, you need to remember that."

"Ah, yes sir," Takashi agreed awkwardly, what was it with everyone deciding to make him the Leader? Personally he thought Saya or Hirano would be better choices, if Harii-san spoke fluent Japanese he would have been the best choice in Takashi's opinion but his lack of communication skills made things so much more difficult, having to relay things through Saya or Hirano, it had been his idea to get Rei through the wires and then get everyone else over them before **They** got their teeth into them, it was him who managed to convince Don Takagi to leave the guns in Hirano's more than capable hands and he was the one who understood Rei's need to face Shidou alone before anyone else, and he couldn't even understand what was being said.

Mrs Takagi smiled, "Nakama are a wonderful thing," she told him soothingly, "They will support and protect you and offer insight you wouldn't have thought of. That's why Wolf Packs hunt better than a Leopard on his own." Takashi blinked at the enigmatic advice she gave him before smiling slightly as he understood, everyone had different talents but it was because of those different talents that they were stronger for it, they could cover for each other's weak points and survive all the better for it. Saya was a genius but she lacked the common sense that Harii-san had, Hirano was fantastic in long range combat, covering for Saeko's lack of skill and vice versa as she covered his terrible short-range melee combat. Rei's tempestuous moods were countered by Shizuka and Mamoru's easy going and steadfastness, Alice's innocence providing a breath of fresh air while Takashi himself was something of a pessimist and Harii-san was just plain jaded when it came to human nature. They protected and supported one another.

"Yeah, I understand," he told her, making the plum haired woman practically beam at him in pride. She found it hard to believe that this was the same little boy she used to see getting cow-toed by her little Saya-chan in elementary school.

"Komuro-kuuuun! Phone, _phone!_" Shizuka called, grabbing his attention before he could approach Rei and see if she was alright. Casting the brunette a concerned glance he made his way back to the main group and left her to her thoughts, perhaps all she needed to do was simmer down and come to terms with what just happened.

Handing the phone to the School Nurse he sat down on the low wall beside Harii-san who was smiling in amusement as he rubbed Zeke's belly, the puppy wriggling in ecstasy in front of him, he sighed and slowly began to feel himself relax as the excitement of the day began to fade away. Shizuka was squealing in glee and jumping up and down with the phone, she sounded so happy and relieved that she'd managed to get through to her friend that Takashi couldn't help but feel a little jealous of her. He hoped his family were alright.

He quickly shook the thought away, he would get anxious and snappy if he allowed his thoughts to linger on what-ifs and maybes. He glanced to the side where Harii-san was playing with the puppy and smiled slightly. Unlike the others, he hadn't been all that wary of Harii-san and Mamoru-kun when they first arrived, he had seen a side of them that the others hadn't yet, the one that prompted them to come running out in the middle of the night to help a little girl without hesitation. The one that had Harii-san hovering outside her door because he knew she would need him later, the one that drove Mamoru to look for a pair of knee and elbow pads small enough for her. They were good people and he had really wanted to lay into the others about trusting them a little more but there just never seemed to be a good moment or a time when neither of them were there, instead, he simply refused to exclude them from the group. The others would come to trust them eventually, he just had to keep showing them his trust and hopefully the others would follow his example.

The sky suddenly lit up a blinding white.

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**Good grief, I apologise right now for any Typos in this. I'm typing on my tiny notebook laptop as my Facebook minions (Love You All) shall know. My main laptop has been struck with a string of absolutely shitty luck. Ergo, I've fallen back onto my rather abused notebook that hasn't been used in almost a year since I received my main laptop from my housemate. **

**Right. This Chapter has a bit more Takashi/Harry interaction, just because I felt that Takashi needs to calm the fuck down and Harry makes a good pacifier in these circumstances. I hope I explained the Team Dynamics satisfactorily in this chapter. X3 I always liked the way it came together, even if it was a little too convenient.**

**ANYWAY**

**(1) Rei-san do this one-person:** The word I pictured Harry using here is '_Hitotsu_' which can mean one of something. '_Futatsu_' means two of something, its a word that's definitely used when ordering food but I'm not one-hundred percent certain if it can apply to people, I think it can but in this case, lets just say Takashi was smart enough to think of it like that.


	6. E6: Dead Distraction

_I do not own Highschool of the Dead, nor do I own Harry Potter, both are the respective properties of those who created, drew and published them. This story and all listed Original characters are mine, please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. With that said – please enjoy the story and share your thoughts and opinions with me._

Summary: **A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.**

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**EPISODE SIX**** – Dead Distraction**

**Note:**_ Extra long chapter today because its my 22nd birthday. Enjoy my lovelies._

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Harry frowned, getting to his feet and looking towards the gate, he could have sworn he'd heard the sound of something going crunch, but it was such a distance away – and the growing clamour of the survivors around him was only getting louder as several men began to complain about the bus's engine dying on them. A bad feeling began to churn in his gut as he distantly heard a woman scream for help, something about a Pacemaker? Weren't they those fake heart-things that helped to regulate the speed and tempo of your own heart if it was damaged, weakened or just unable to beat in a healthy rhythm?

Saya was scowling as well, she too must not like the sudden change in the atmosphere either. _Something_ was wrong here, very wrong.

"Miyamoto, try aiming at something with your Dot-Sight," the rosette haired girl commanded much to Rei's confusion.

"What? Why?" she asked sceptically.

Saya growled slightly, "Just do it! Can you see the dot?" she demanded as the older girl huffed under her breath and lifted the gun, running her sight down the barrel via the lens and frowned slightly, Saya squeaking slightly and quickly stepping out of the Gun's firing line. "Well?"

"No," Rei admitted quietly, concern beginning to colour her tone, "I can't."

Saya looked like she had expected this but really hoped that for once she was wrong, "Papa! We need to change our plans! This is probably – "

"They're coming!" a distant voice screamed making the whole group whip around as a man staggered, panting through the estate gates, "Don't come this way!" he shouted, forcing his exhausted legs to take him further, "Don't come this way!" he repeated beseechingly, to them or to the creatures that suddenly dragged him backwards, they didn't know, all they knew was that the barricade was broken and **They** were coming.

"Close the gates! Quickly!" Don Takagi roared, "Defence Units assemble! Do not let any of the dead in!"

"Don!" one of the men shouted in a mixture of horror and confusion, while somehow still managing to remain professional, Harry had to give these guys some props for that, the Japanese took their beliefs seriously whatever it was, "Are we just going to abandon the people who are still out there?" he cried.

"If we do not close it now we will lose _everything_!" the man barked, drawing his sword, Harry noted that it was completely unmarked from his demonstration earlier in the day, he must have cleaned it.

"Do it," Mrs Takagi ordered firmly, glaring at the man who dared to question her husband. Nodding. The man dug through his pocket and produced the remote control, keying in the shut command only for the Gates to remain unresponsive, he keyed it again before growling in frustration.

"Of all the times for the remote control to break," he complained furiously under his breath at their bad luck, "Someone! Quickly, close the gate!" he yelled, gesturing for several of the men to get over there.

Harry shook his head, staring at the scene in front of him, gripping his pipe tightly, that gate wasn't going to hold, there were too many of those Things trying to claw their way through it. One of them had even managed to squeeze its way through before the gates came to a clattering shut, he gave it no mind as Kohta splattered its skull contents across the pavements behind it.

"_That Gate isn't going to hold. It's too big and there isn't any opposing support on our side to counter the force of that horde_," Harry pointed out to Saya who nodded grimly, she too had noticed the problem, judging by the way Don Takagi and his wife were arming themselves, they too were aware of how structurally inadequate their gate was for keeping back that many of **Them**. He bit his lip and scowled at the gates, anxiousness beginning to rise, they were going to have to beat a hasty retreat, there was no way they could hold against those kinds of numbers with so many non-combatants, women and children that needed protecting and God only knew how many people were going to snap and be completely unable to protect themselves, just randomly swinging whatever weapon they had. They had relaxed, gotten so caught up in turning away that the reality was ripping their minds to shreds, what they had denied for so long was now in their faces and they just couldn't handle it, couldn't compute what they were faced with and so they shut down.

Harry turned and started running back towards the mansion, "Hey!" Rei screamed, scowling, "Coward! Come back here! You're a man, aren't you?"

Mamoru rolled his eyes, "He's going to get our stuff," he told the chestnut haired girl coldly, making her flush in embarrassment and surprise, "Those gates aren't going to hold and when **They** break in, we're going to be too busy trying to survive to bother getting our belongings and supplies." Rei fell quiet, embarrassed and ashamed over her condemnation of the other teenager as Saya, Kohta and Mrs Takagi spoke, the younger girl explaining what had just happened, what the bright light was and why they could suddenly no longer use any electronic goods.

"Is there any way of fixing the broken equipment?" Don Takagi asked, differing to his daughter whom had admirably kept her head in such a bleak situation, as if those Monsters weren't threatening to breach their defences and overrun them in a sea of blood and rot.

Saya nodded, "If we replaced the broken parts, then we might be able to get the cars working again. There's still the possibility that some of them are working though, Classic Cars for example," she suggested with a frown, churning over the probability of finding any such vehicle in Tokyo, Western Cars, specifically Diesel Engines would have been ideal but there were just so few locations that _had_ Diesel fuel these days and there were even less people who had them as cars.

"Look into that as soon as possible," the man ordered one of his underlings, the young man agreeing instantly and already moving off to check the Takagi garages and vehicles other survivors brought with them in the slim, very slim, chance that one of them was such a vehicle. "Saya!" Don Takagi commanded, making his daughter jolt in sudden surprise as she was jarred out of her thoughts.

"Wh-what is it?" she asked warily, half expecting another scolding for not being useful enough. Having her father call her worthless when he believed her out of earshot hurt a lot, but at her age, it wasn't as though she hadn't heard it before, still, the thought that he would scold her like that to her face in front of her friends made something sink painfully in the pit of her stomach. She didn't think she would be able to look Takashi or Fatass in the eye if they heard her father chew her out for being useless, nothing but a brain, she knew that other people at school had entertained such thoughts regarding her before, she knew Rei wasn't too fond of her and now with all the girls clamouring for Takashi, she was somewhat concerned that if they thought she was interested in him they would turn on her as well. She didn't want her father to give them ammunition, she hated this, she hated the fact that he had such power over her hopes and fears and the fact that he was her father and she didn't _want_ to care what he thought of her but she did, she did so very badly, it was why she tried so hard, why she was such a Genius, she wanted him to be _proud _of her.

"You have managed to keep your head in this chaos. I commend you!"

Her world ceased moving.

He... he had... c-commended her? He was _proud_ of her?

He turned around and stepped forward to face the on-coming crisis as the men at the gate began to shout, the gate was creaking dangerously as they shouted over the numbers and then finally – the gate came crashing down, those Things pouring through the opening, making for the living like a pack of starved piranha, ripping into the men as they shouted for their leader to run and escape. The survivors tents suddenly exploded in panic as **They** rushed between the canvas walls.

"Honey," Mrs Takagi prompted, gripping the small firearms in her grasp anxiously, looking at her husband for guidance.

"Papa! We should get into the house – " Saya called, moving forward to as if she could pull her father back towards the building in question, her heart leapiong into her throat at the thought of him going out and fighting **Them**, fighting and dying, just when she had finally achieved his approval, just when... just when she discovered that she wasn't worthless to him, that he did love her, when he stopped being her **father** and became her **Papa**.

"Our goal is to defend ourselves! They broke down the metal gate. Even if we went into the house they would simply break in and we would be consumed!" the man roared.

"I saw from the second floor," a man exclaimed as he rushed over, rifle in hand, "People in the neighbouring houses haven't been attacked. It may be possible to reclaim the gate!"

Don Takagi nodded and drew his sword, "Our targets are those who have broken through! Men who can fight, prepare yourselves. Women and Children who want to survive, get in back!" he commanded loudly as the survivors who had made it behind the defensive line shifted in preparation for the on coming horde. "You have your filial piety, do you not, Komuro-kun?" the older man demanded the teenager, looking over his shoulder at him, feeling hope burn in his chest, his daughter would be safe with Komuro-kun, they had been friends for many years and knowing that the young man his wife spoke so highly of would be caring for her took a great weight off his shoulders. Saya had good men taking care of her. And he knew the daughter of Busujima-san would do her best as well. "It is time that you went on your way!"

There was a beat of silence as Takashi felt his stomach turn to lead, "Yes sir," he agreed quietly, wishing he could stay and help fight, but knowing that he had to get _his_ people out of here alive and well, and he couldn't do that if he was fighting Don Takagi's battles for him. No matter how much he may respect the man, he had to follow his example and lead his _own_ people to safety, just as he was.

"Hirano-kun," the man continued, continuing to look on the world in front of him, if he looked at the teenagers behind him, he would change his mind, try to make them stay, protect them, protect his Saya, "I am entrusting my daughter to you." The boy would protect her with his dying breath and beyond, a fine young man only just beginning to try his wings in the flight of War. He had to withhold a small smile when he heard his daughter's immediate protest, she was still a little girl, his little girl, and she still had his temper. He left her to Yuriko and took a deep breath, steeling himself for the on coming battle, the one that would likely be his last.

"Just go!" Yuriko commanded.

"Obachan..." Alice lamented quietly, beginning to tear up with the idea of leaving Saya-chan's Mama fighting the Monsters.

Yuriko smiled and knelt down to hug her, "You're a good girl, Obachan's daughter is a good girl too... Listen to your Niichans and Neechans," she told the little girl quietly as the sound of rapidly approaching feet reached them.

Harry running onto the scene with several bags slung awkwardly over his shoulders and elbows, staring at the chaos around him with large pained eyes. Mamoru grunted as one of the bags were flung into his chest, the others hitting the ground as the British teenager dropped all the others on the ground and immediately shot towards the approaching **Things**.

Takashi moved first, grabbing the older boy's arm and forcibly hauling him backwards, away from the fight, damn he was strong for such a skinny little thing. "We have to go!" Takashi growled at the foreign boy, "We can't help them!" he snapped yanking Harry backwards and slapping him roughly much like he did with Rei what seemed like a life time ago when this whole mess started back at school. But Harry wasn't Rei and he probably should have expected the punch that impacted against his jaw a split second later. Takashi staggered backwards swearing and clutching at his cheek, Harry's face was twisted angrily but he didn't move back to go and fight against **Them**.

He knew he couldn't fight them and win, but he couldn't just... couldn't just stand there and let **Them** attack those people, he couldn't do _nothing!_ His first reflex when he'd seen how bad it was to drop the bags and go in there, pole swinging and help, if he managed to rescue just _one_ person he wouldn't mind whatever else happened but Takashi had stopped him and slapped some sense into him. That bastard, that bastard was _right_ though! Harry couldn't help them! He was just... just one person, just one guy and he wasn't like Saeko-san, or Hirano-san... He gritted his teeth, hands fisting as he stepped past Takashi and started running towards the Buggy along with the others, resolutely telling himself that the burning and prickling of his eyes was just smoke irritation. His eyes were watering from heat and smoke, he wasn't crying.

"I've looked through it a few times, and it all seems to be good," Matsudo-san declared, slamming the bonnet down on the buggy as everyone approached, Mamoru slinging the bags that Harry liberated from the house inside, no wonder he had taken so long, he had gathered _everyone's_ bags and not just his, Mamoru's and the little one they put together for Alice-chan. "The electronic parts and cables are all isolated. Its good to go!" the mechanic explained in satisfaction as the troupe of teenagers plus adult and child all gathered around.

"That Humvee was made for military use," Shizuka-san pointed out, folding her arms, no doubt she was thinking that the other vehicle would be much more superior for steam-rolling through **Them**, at least to give Don Takagi and Mrs Takagi a little bit more of a fighting chance by taking out as many of **Them** as possible during their escape. The ones that the bombs they were throwing around hadn't already. The lawn was burning.

Kohta shook his head, "Its dead. Due to budget cuts they had to drop the anti-EMP measures," he explained, no doubt thinking along the same lines as her, yet knowing better. No doubt is Matsudo-san survived he would be able to repair the vehicle though and add it to the resources of the Takagi Family.

"Such a waste," Matsudo-san lamented, no doubt referring to the Military's short-sightedness when it came to money.

"But... what about you Matsudo-san?" Takashi asked still rubbing his now slightly discoloured jaw, glancing briefly at Harry who was avoiding everyone's eyes as he roughly wiped his face.

The man grinned and held his wrench up, "The woman I'm in love with is here with everyone else," he explained, anything beyond Saya-sama's safety was negligible in his opinion, everything for her, he could think about himself when she was safe and that was good enough for him. Takashi nodded, he guessed he could understand that sentiment as he climbed into the buggy with everyone else, taking note that both Harry and Mamoru had sandwiched Alice in the middle of the back, cushioned and protected by the bags rescued from the house. "Go with good health, Saya-sama!" Matsudo-san exclaimed, bowing gruffly at the rosette haired girl as she tromped past and smiled briefly at his consideration.

"I'm always in good health," she assured him, he worried too much about her, he needed to worry about himself from now on.

Gunning the engine, the group shot forward at Saya's command to punch through the gates and get out onto the street, she resolutely didn't look back, refused to look back, couldn't bring herself to look back and see her parents in a sea of blood, sword and guns catching the light of the slowly sinking sun. She didn't want that scene to be the last she saw of her parents, she wanted the one where her father was smiling as she told him she loved him, her mother stood at his side as she had always done, the two of them facing the world with everything to prove and believing in her ability to survive, proud of _her_. She wanted _that_ to be her memory of them.

So she closed her eyes and clung to the buggy as they shot through the tiny opening between the bus and the barricade, only opening them when Miyamoto-san started to speak only to put her foot down her throat when she realised just what was coming out of her mouth and who she was sat beside.

"Don't say anything more!" she snapped, "Please."

"Takagi-san!" Hirano called over the roar of the air as they shot through the streets.

"What do you want?" she asked, too tired to scold him for speaking to her when she specifically requested that no one speak any further. She supposed that Fatass was going to disobey her eventually.

"Don't let your guard down!" he told her firmly and she sighed as Miyamoto started to go off on one.

"No, its fine," she told the hot-headed girl, "Really, its alright. Hirano's – Kohta's right." They drove in silence for a time, everyone consumed with their grim thoughts over the fate of Saya's parents and all the people who were taking shelter at her family estate.

"What now?" Shizuka-san asked quietly, looking to Takashi who had pushed her out of the driver's seat earlier.

"Sorry, but Rei and I need to find our parents! We need to check our houses, the Higurashi Police Station and Shintoko Third Elementary school! At this rate it won't take longer than two hours!" Takashi called, making Harry frown and sit up straight as he remembered what the Police Woman over the phone told him, '_Get over the Onbetsu Bridge and to Shintoko Third Elementary School_'. He opened his mouth to tell them before closing it, they needed to find their families before finding out about the Evacuation, he would tell them when they'd found their people. "After that – we'll look for your friend Sensei!"

"There's the Highway!" Saeko-san called from the front seat.

Rounding the corner, Takashi slammed on the breaks of the buggy, his face draining of all colour, along with everyone else's...

"_Shit_," Harry summed it up, staring out over the street and the heaving Dead that were slowly beginning to take note of their engine noise and shuffle their way forwards.

"They're everywhere..." Alice said softly, staring at the approaching Things with large magenta coloured eyes.

"Why is it like this?" Takashi seethed, gritting his teeth – ignoring the painful throb of his cheek which had now blossomed into a dark purple and yellow colour and swollen up slightly.

"That's obvious!" Saya scoffed.

"Care to explain for us, Takagi-san?" Kohta asked, his voice strained as he looked expectantly at the rosette haired girl.

She folded her arms and smirked in superiority, "Your knowledge must be limited to nothing but shooting, Fatty," she decided, falling back into their old relationship from school which seemed to bring some familiarity and security to the situation and finally to the group. At least their Brain was alright, if their Brain was alive then somehow they could manage as well. "**They** react to sound. And the EMP blast blotted out any sounds coming from within the city. Plus, my parents were using dynamite, all the sound is coming from behind us. Not to mention the fact the Buggy's making a lot of noise, we probably have the only working engine along the whole Highway."

Saeko nodded, "I think you're right. But our problem now is how we're going to get through here," she pointed out seriously, fingering the hilt of her sword.

"The buggy can go in water right? How about we go in the river!" Rei pointed out excitedly, "I don't think **They** will go into the water."

Takashi nodded, looking strained, "That's what Matsudo-san said, but with this many people on-board I don't think it'll stay afloat."

"Then we should just try going through them again?" Shizuka suggested, uncomfortable with the idea of splitting up, dying or getting eaten.

Takashi shook his head, "There's too many of **Them** to try that," he said grimly.

"Then... What should we do?" Rei demanded, beginning to get vicious as fear settled into her bones.

"_We could try distracting them with the buggy,_" Harry suggested to Kohta, making the gun fanatic look at him in surprise and the rest of the Buggy fall quiet. "_Two people take the buggy and draw __**Them**__ off, we arrange a place to meet up later and a set time-limit in which to reach said location. Everyone else takes advantage of the distraction and quietly makes their way to the meet up point._" Kohta nodded and relayed his suggestion to the rest of the group, there was a little humming and hahing over splitting up but in all honesty it was their best choice right now, "_Someone'll have to drive the buggy so Takashi will be the best choice to join the distraction Team. Since an abundance of noise would be a bad thing, I think Saeko-san should stay with the main group and act as protection. Kohta-san needs to conserve his bullets so he should stay with the main group as well and only use his guns if they're already compromised. And I think Rei-san should stay with the main group as well, the more people to protect the non-combatants the better_," Harry suggested as he began to rummage in his backpack for the map he stole from Saya's house.

"We should meet at Taiei Shopping Town, its right here," Rei suggested pointing at a star symbol on the map, "Its about half an hour away from my house and there's a _very_ large car-park in front of it so we'll be able to see you coming and if you need help or not," she suggested, circling the site, listening with half an ear as Kohta quietly muttered a translation to Harii-san who nodded thoughtfully. And spoke again.

"What about a secondary meeting point, just in case Taiei is compromised?" Kohta translated making Rei nod.

"My house. Its right here, Takashi knows where it is," she said firmly, she could see the wisdom in having her go with the main group that Alice and Shizuka-sensei were a part of, she was the only one apart from Takashi that knew this area with any kind of intimacy, even Saya was largely unfamiliar with their childhood stomping grounds.

"That means the best choice would be Takashi and Harii. If they get grid locked and can't get back by normal means, Harii has a map and a compass that means they can cut through gardens and through houses and shops if need be," Mamoru suggested, glancing back to the group, "And we might want to come to our final decision soon, those things aren't stopping and they're getting a hell of a lot too close for my comfort."

Indeed, they were alarming close right now.

"Agreed! Everyone pile out, grab the bags! Harii, keep hold of that map and grab whatever else you need!" Takashi ordered, though he probably didn't have to as the British teenager was already pulling out a handful of things they may have needed and shoving them into his backpack as the others quickly piled out of the buggy. "See you soon. We're going to drive around and attract as many of **Them** as possible so stay hidden and stay quiet at the Meeting place. It shouldn't take longer than a day to get back," Takashi promised, smiling warmly at Rei who beamed back.

The two boys exchanging glances as Harii climbed into the front seat a moment before Takashi floored the acceleration and Harii started whistling and shouting – attracting as many of **Them** over as he could.

* * *

Harry sighed and then glowered down at Takashi, "Thanks for the meal," he told the other teenager sarcastically making the younger male laugh self-consciously.

"Maybe I did get too many," he admitted sheepishly under the British male's arched eyebrow.

"Maybe," he repeated thoughtfully, "Let's go. Good night," he pointed out, nodding to the sinking sun, giving Takashi a fairly good idea about what he meant, it was indeed getting late and night would soon be on them. Meaning it would be nearly impossible to see and **They** would then have the advantage – seeing as they were blind anyway.

"Hold on," Takashi told him before gunning the engine once more and shooting off the edge of the slope, down towards the river with Harii-san clinging onto the metal frame behind his seat as if the lack of gravity didn't mean a damn thing to him, Takashi didn't think he had even seen the other male twitch through some of his more... _interesting_ evasive manoeuvres. Tumbling along behind them, **They** fell like rag-dolls to the river bed below, ploughing into the ground with enough force to knock an ordinary human unconscious, or at least break several bones.

"They can use stairs but they can't use slopes?" Takashi exclaimed in excited realisation and more than a little bit of disbelief.

"_Ouch_," Harii muttered as he observed their impact, taking a mental note about this inability however, **They** were unaffected by their forceful spill and already dragging themselves up on broken limbs, bones jutting through discoloured skin and finally tearing out with spurts of semi-congealed blood that did little more than splatter the floor.

Takashi frowned in disappointment as he watched, "They're still moving," he complained quietly.

"Too easy," Harii muttered before nudging him, "Hurry."

"Right!" Takashi agreed before zooming off into the river, throwing up a lot of spray that soaked both him _and_ Harii through to the bone, "You alright?" the Japanese teenager asked, looking over his shoulder to the other male who wasn't even paying him any attention, or bothering with his wet clothes as he watched the shore-line for any pursuit. Takashi blinked at his lack of response and looked him over, he seemed alright, completely unbothered by the water and his wet clothes, damn he was skinny, almost painfully so, Takashi could count his ribs through his water-logged white shirt.

Silently, the two moved further into the middle of the river, Harii keeping his eye on the shore before touching his head and pointing, none of **Them** had opted to follow them into the water – it looked like they had an aversion to the stuff then, another thing to bare in mind. Takashi collapsed back in his seat with a great sigh of relief that made Harii snort in amusement, as he idly flicked some water droplets at the other teenager.

"Oi," Takashi complained half-heartedly as he tried to wipe them off only to realise he was already soaking wet and snicker himself as they pulled up on the sandbar his mother told him to avoid when he was younger.

"Let's take a break," the younger teenager suggested making Harii blink uncomprehendingly, "Ah," he scratched his jaw thoughtfully, "Stop?" he offered hesitantly.

"Stop?" Harii echoed before pointing at the sandbar, "Stop, one hour? Two hour? Good night?" he asked, Takashi nodded in relief, thank the Kami that he knew _some_ Japanese.

"One hour," he agreed, holding up a single finger to better get his point across. Harii nodded and held up a single finger and repeated with a brief grin, he was slowly and steadily learning the language by listening in on various conversations between the group, it was getting easier, he could understand half of what was being said most of the time. He just needed a bit more time and a little help before he learned the rest, as for writing, no way in hell, he was going to be illiterate for some time, at least until they settled down somewhere – though Harry got a slight sinking sensation that by the time they were evacuated from Japan he would be shipped off to face **Them** back in England, or just shot or put into some Japanese equivalent of a Concentration Camp for foreigners, like the British did during World War two.

The two of them sat in silence on the sandbar, watching the shadows grow longer as the hour ticked away, occasionally Takashi would sigh quietly and look around in boredom or concern for their friends who were elsewhere. Harry sat still and quiet, watching the shoreline quietly as **They** shuffled around and groaned in hunger, or just some poor attempt at using vocal cords that no longer vibrated appropriately without air passing through them. Every now and again, Takashi's eyes would flick to the other teenager curious about how completely unaffected he was by all this, not only that, but he was so thin and pale, there was a sharpness in his eyes and he just seemed to _know_ things about people, situations, he was like an adult already but he wasn't much older than they were. The younger teenager shook his head and returned to looking out at the setting sun as it painted the sky crimson and gold before his eyes flicked over again.

His hands were so small.

Was he shivering? Takashi blinked as he realised that, yes, Harii was shivering and he'd been shivering for a while in silence as he sat still as a statue watching the shoreline. He opened his mouth, about to call out and suggest he get changed into something dry and warm before he remembered that they shouldn't make too much noise and gave it up, if Harii hadn't said anything before now then he obviously wasn't going to. He must've still been upset over earlier when Takashi stopped him from trying to help those people – though in all honesty, _he_ should be the one upset, the older teenager had punched him, _hard_. He hadn't seemed upset earlier though, perhaps he was just too proud to admit that he was cold?

Right, it was about that time, they should get going.

Tapping the shivering teenager's shoulder, Takashi gestured to the shore and in silence, Harii nodded and climbed into the buggy, the pair of them descending back into the river again – without the almighty wave of water that they had last time. The streets were crawling with **Them** so much so that it was just as bad as before when they decided to make for the Sandbar, Takashi mentally thanked Mamoru for volunteering Harii to come with him, had it been any of the girls they would have complained by now but the other teenager was quiet and let him get on with it, occasionally using his pole to jab one of **Them** out of the way of the buggy.

Grinning, the Japanese teenager swerved into the Park, he had an idea and it would be safe for them as well!

"Hold on!" he told Harii, watching as the older male gripped the side of the buggy before Takashi crashed the vehicle into the park fountain, soaking the both of them again much to Harii's noisy discontent that time. The green eyed teenager hissed at him like an angry cat as he shook his head, sending water flying as the younger of the two dug into his bag and grabbed at a roll of tape so he could fix the steering wheel.

With the tape in place, the buggy began to circle the fountain, its motor running loudly and drawing more and more of **Them** from out of the bushes and surrounding area as the sound announced them. Harii didn't look happy but he nodded in acceptance of Takashi's plan before the two of them started running again, Takashi in the lead as they moved towards the park entrance, neither bothering to take the time and crush **Their** skulls in.

They were close to the park exit when Harii yelped in alarm, a vice-like grip clamping down on his ankle and yanking it out from under him, pole flying out of his grasp, he twisted and landed hard on his back, all the air forced out of his lungs as the backpack he wore bent him backwards, eyes widening as one of **Them** hauled itself forward on its stomach, hissing in excitement, hand crushing his ankle as it drew closer and closer to its meal. He gasped and kicked out, trying to pull himself away as more and more of **Them** realised that one of their prey had been brought down to ground level, the Thing grunted as Harry's foot crushed its nose but it wasn't enough to crush its skull.

Grabbing the pole, Takashi whacked away one of **Them** when it came too close and levelled his shotgun at the Thing's skull, squeezing the trigger and splattering its brains across the pathway and all over Harii who was already yanking at its hand to try and free himself. Grabbing the smaller teenager's arm, Takashi hauled him up and stomped on the attached hand, allowing Harii to pull himself free and grab his pole.

"Damnit!" Takashi swore, grabbing Harii by the arm and hustling him towards the exit, the British teenager wincing a little with every footfall as he forced himself to keep up, limping ever so slightly. The situation wasn't looking good, even though they had escaped the Park, there were more of **Them** already converging on the pair, the younger of the two glanced back at Harii, taking in the grimace of pain on his face, "We'll never get out of here," the short haired teenager growled, looking around desperately for a place where they could hole up for the night.

He blinked, a shrine! They could hide out there for the time being, until tomorrow's first light.

Grabbing Harii's arm again, Takashi pulled him over to the steps and slung an arm around his waist, pulling the other over his shoulder to take the weight off his injured ankle. Sweet Kami-sama! He was ridiculously light, enough so that Takashi could have _carried_ him up the stairs, if he didn't think he would get punched for it. Quickly and awkwardly, the two made their way up the stairs and into the Shrine, barring the door behind them and pausing in the darkness to take a better look around and make sure it was as empty as it looked.

Hurriedly, Takashi grabbed at several candles and a floor mat, setting them out and giving them some light, he liberated Harii of his bag and pole, setting them aside and gesturing for the smaller teenager to sit down on the mat. He was limping quite heavily now that they weren't running and the Japanese teenager winced in sympathetic pain, they needed to get him to Shizuka-sensei if it wasn't alright by tomorrow, otherwise things might get difficult for him – not that they would ever abandon him.

Sitting down on the mat, Harry shivered slightly and stretched his ankle out in front of him, rolling up his sodden trouser leg to get a better look at it, he could already see that it was swollen under his clingy wet soaks. This was going to hurt like a _bitch_ he just knew it as he began to unlace his shoe and ease it off, gritting his teeth as he did so, ignoring Takashi as he watched with large worried eyes in the candle-light. It looked even more worrisome without his shoe or sock to hide it, his ankle was swollen and angry red looking with an ugly purple bruise beginning to form in a distinct hand pattern around his ankle. He was no professional but he would say that was sprained, or at least very badly twisted, it was going to make walking and running an utter _whore_ of a bitch but he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

Sighing, Harry leaned back and stopped probing the puffy flesh with a look of malcontent on his face, it didn't help that it was fucking freezing in here and his clothes were soaking wet, not to mention covered in blood now. He looked over at the shorter haired teenager and gestured for his bag, "_I want to change my clothes_," he said, "_Could you pass my bag? Ahh, _may I have my bag please?" he asked in shaky Japanese but it was understandable, Takashi nodded and quickly pulled it over for him.

Harry nodded and pulled out a change of clothes and awkwardly got changed, facing away from the other teenager, he had no idea that Takashi's eyes were glued to him and the scars that slashed across his body, not to mention just how emaciated he really was. There was muscle, oh yes, there was lean, wiry muscle hidden under smooth pale white skin but the scars, silvery pink, slightly raised and oh-so very obvious in the candle light, they didn't look accidental, not at all. Especially the little pock-marks on his right arm. The thick jagged slash on his left, going vertically down his forearm. Now, he wasn't familiar with suicide scars but even he knew that the tail-end of a suicide scar would point inwards, _towards_ the cutter, Harii's pointed outwards, indicating that it wasn't self inflicted. Someone had cut down his arm in a way that made it possible for him to die of blood loss! Takashi knew he was tough but... that was just a little bit beyond the pale.

Sticking his wet clothes in a plastic bag from a seperate pocket, Harry stowed it back in his bag and sat bag down rather awkwardly, sighing tiredly. He felt so much better in warm, dry clothes but at the same time, he was very worried about Mamoru and Alice.

"How did you get them, those scars?" Takashi finally asked softly, making Harry blink at look over at him in confusion, "Hurt here. How?" he asked, pointing to Harry's arm, the one with the odd pock-marks.

Harry rubbed that arm self consciously, "Snakes," he said by means of explanation, "Cousin Dudley enjoys snakes."

Takashi's insides went cold, his _cousin_ had done that to him? His cousin had gotten hold of a snake and forced it to bite Harii over and over and over again? And a poisonous snake too judging by the bite marks, that or they had gotten infected somehow which led Takashi to wonder why Harii hadn't been taken to a hospital because they wouldn't have _gotten_ infected if he had and oh Kami what did this mean about his home-life?

"Hurt there. Cousin?" he asked, reaching out and touching the thick one on Harii's left forearm, it was warm and soft under his fingertips, oddly silky and smooth.

"No," Harry said quietly, that scar... that scar came from an old friend of his parents, a mad man who spent roughly ten or twelve years homeless, stealing off Molly's Farm until he happened to stumble across Harry and began to stalk him due to his similar colouring to his father. Peter Pettigrew had abducted him when he was fourteen and attempted to commit a joint suicide, as after he sold out James and Lily Potter to the Serial Killer who murdered them, both Remus and Sirius turned against him. For some reason Peter believed them dead and was planning on killing both himself and Harry so they could all be together in the afterlife. Peter succeeded in killing himself, but Harry had been found by Bill Weasley who quickly brought him to the hospital where a blood transfusion saved his life – that episode cost Harry almost five pints of blood, almost enough to kill him.

Gently, Harry pulled his arm away from the curious teenager's, skin tingling with the left over warmth before Harry absently rubbed it away, "Good night, Takashi," the British teenager said as he lay himself down on the floor mat.

"Good night, Harii."

* * *

The survivors of Taiei Shopping Town seemed wary of allowing them into the building but the fact that they were clearly children and had both Alice and Zeke with them, they were eventually allowed inside. Thankfully it was dark to their weapons couldn't be seen in the gloom which was all well and good as they made their way up to the second floor and watched through the windows for any sign of Harii and Takashi.

Alice fell asleep straight away, curled up on Mamoru's lap where he slung a shirt over her to keep her warm, fairly soon the rest of the group followed suit with the exception of Shizuka-san who just couldn't get comfortable on the floor, or in the dark of the mostly abandoned food hall. Saeko was watching the car park below wih hawk-like blue eyes, completely oblivious to Mamoru as he, in turn, watched her.

"I've been meaning to ask," he murmured, quietly so as not to wake the others, though he doubted he could with the way Hirano was snoring like a truck several metres away. Somehow Takagi and Rei were managing to sleep through it. Saeko blinked and looked over at him, "Where's your family? Everyone else seems to have already made plans to find them but I haven't heard anything about you."

"Ah," the Kendo Champion murmured, understanding the line of questioning now, "I have no family aside from my father who is overseas at the moment," she explained softly, smiling slightly at the sight of the blond teenager with the little girl sleeping in his lap, incidentally, drooling over his knee, not that he seemed to notice.

Mamoru frowned, "No boyfriend?" he asked, surely a woman like her had a boyfriend, she was too hot not to in all honesty.

Saeko smirked slightly, "No, no boyfriend. But there was someone I liked. I doubt he's dead, though... he may be," she admitted, her smirk becoming ghoulish in the half-light from the moon outside.

Mamoru arched an eyebrow, "Hard to imagine a guy you'd like that couldn't handle himself to be honest," he told her calmly, making the long haired woman clamp a hand over her mouth to prevent her from disturbing the others by laughing. Mamoru chalked up a victory point when he saw her blue eyes dancing with mirth, Saeko-san needed to laugh more, she was so much more beautiful when she did.

The long haired girl glanced to the others in contemplation, they were all out for the count, even Shizuka-sensei who's sleep looked very uncomfortable and restless as she squirmed unhappily atop her bed of jackets. Only she and Mamoru were conscious right now. Even Zeke the puppy was fast asleep, curled up against Alice, snuffling curiously and twitching with whatever doggy-dreams he had.

She smiled, and told him. Told him about the man who attacked her, the man she brutalised and found such glee in watching him squeal and squirm in front of her, the fear she could _taste_ in the air, the pain she caused, the exhilaration she felt, the _power_ she had over him. She had only been young at the time but now, she was older, she was older and wiser and the thought of it thrilled her in places previously untouched, made her squirm in her bed and pant in excitement.

And Mamoru listened without commenting until she was finished before saying, easily, as if she weren't some kind of monster:

"They pay you for that sort of thing in some places, y'know." Saeko stared at him for all of a minute before snorting and guffawing in such an unlady-like fashion that Takagi-san shifted in her sleep and Mamoru smirked at her amusement. "In all honesty, I don't think you're a monster. You're kind, graceful, thoughtful, you didn't hesitate to protect us today, you care. So what if you take pleasure in having the upper-hand, that's a human thing to do. Humans are cruel but they balance that with kindness, to put it bluntly, you're as far from being a monster as Takagi is," Mamoru told her soothingly, nodding to the sleeping rosette haired girl who had somehow managed to snuggle up to Rei in her sleep.

The two sat in companionable silence as they overlooked their Nakama, the gentle sound of heavy breathing and shifting cloth filling the air.

"Thank you, Mamoru-kun," Saeko finally said at long last, her tone thoughtful but relieved, "I had... It had been painful... I hated myself, my weakness, my darkness, the lie that I made of my life. That crazy part of me that lusted for blood and battle while I pretended to have the heart and soul of a young girl."

"You _are_ a young girl," Mamoru told her firmly, "Nothing you say or do could ever convince me otherwise, Saeko-san." He sighed and ran his fingers through Alice's hair when she whimpered slightly in her sleep, she settled and he began to speak, "When I was younger, I didn't have much luck with girls. I only ever had one decent girlfriend, she was a sweet and kind little thing, beautiful green eyes. But I was such a dick back then, I got drunk and I got selfish and... she wasn't ready, wasn't interested. I hit her, I got violent and I hit her and kicked her before I realised what the hell I was doing." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "At least you were defending yourself before you snapped. Me, I lashed out because she didn't want to sleep with me. That's the lowest anyone can get."

Saeko hummed thoughtfully, "Truly, everyone seems to have a skeleton in their closet. Perhaps they should make friends," she offered with a small smile as Mamoru chuckled.

"That'd be nice. Everyone could do with a friend these days. Even skeletons."

* * *

**In case you guys are wondering what the hell Saeko and Mamoru mean about their skeletons being friends, well, neither of them have ever told anyone else their problems/issues. Because they have and because its a similar problem, their friendship is closer because they understand each other where others wouldn't. Dudley using snakes on Harry, that's a substitution for the Basilisk issue in Second year. I've largely left Harry's backstory similar but with various tweaks that should hopefully explain his personality differences a lot better. He's still a stubborn bastard, he's just had to become a lot more Slytherin because he's not strong enough to do things the Gryffindor Way which is going in all guns blazing and beat the crap out of anyone who looks at you cross-eyed.**

**Right. On to the important stuff.**

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! XDDD Yup. Today is the 22nd anniversary of my birth, and I've still done nothing with my life XDD ah well.**

**PAIRING POLL**

Pairing poll thus far:

Mamoru/Harry: 39

Takashi/Harry: 32

Saeko/Takashi: 13

**Poll is still open, you can vote every chapter. I'm going to keep the poll open until I run out of pre-established manga to work with, at which point I'm going to go ape-shit with the plot and hit the ground running. Ergo that'll be when I close the poll.**

**As of the moment, I'm trying to show as much Character development with each respective character and pairing on offer so that everyone can have an idea of what they might be getting into by voting for a specific one.**

Author's lament:

Its canon that Asami dies, that won't change. Mainly because she would be dead weight and that scene is such a huge thing for Hirano that I cannot remove it without affecting some of my later scene ideas. If she were alive though, I would have liked to pair her with Saeko. XDD They seem like they would be unusually good together. Not to mention incredibly cute.


	7. E7: Dead End

_I do not own Highschool of the Dead, nor do I own Harry Potter, both are the respective properties of those who created, drew and published them. This story and all listed Original characters are mine, please do not copy or redistribute without my permission. With that said – please enjoy the story and share your thoughts and opinions with me._

Summary: **A holiday to Japan soon turns into a nightmare for Harry when the world ends. Language difficulties, racism, unfamiliarity and lack of trust, not to mention THEM. Its fly and live or fall and... become the enemy.**

* * *

**EPISODE SEVEN**** – Dead End**

**Note:** _Apologies for the delay, I've been waiting for the new Highschool of the Dead Chapter 30 but it won't come out until the Ninth of May. Yet strangely it has yet to be posted up, but I suppose with 50 pages that need cleaning, translating and all the other such stuff that needs doing, it would take longer than a week. Unless its been delayed. Again._

* * *

Sleep was difficult for Takashi.

He wasn't used to resting on hard surfaces and the draft that crept up through the building was bitterly cold, Harii-san breathing not too far away from him was highly distracting as well. He didn't dare move or shift or wriggle to get comfortable on the hardwood floor just in case he woke the other teenager up, how on earth he could sleep in these conditions Takashi didn't know, but he had a bad feeling about it none the less. By the time he finally _did_ drop off to sleep it felt like he was waking up almost immediately after closing his eyes, the only thing that told him that a significant portion of time had passed was the fact he was currently wrapped around the warmest thing in arm's reach – Harii, who was wide awake and staring at him with an arched eyebrow.

His face warmed and he quickly untangled himself from the smaller teenager with an uncomfortable cough, resolutely ignoring the look of amusement on the other male's face.

They quickly cleared up and paused only long enough to eat a few of the plastic wrapped Onigiri Harii had squirrelled away in his bag and take turns sipping at a bottle of water before it was decided they had to leave. Harii's ankle looked even worse than last night, black and mottled purple and green and rather badly swollen, the black colour had even drained down and settled just at above his toes. Takashi frowned in concern but Harii didn't seem to think anything of it as he quickly and efficiently went about wrapping it with a torn T-shirt, rolling two pairs of thick socks over it and painfully cramming his foot back into his shoe.

"Let's go," the foreign teenager said quietly, picking up his pole and bag and limping to the door, sliding it open for them both, allowing early morning sunlight to stream through and almost blind the short haired teenager.

Takashi nodded, squinting and following him, "If we go out to the street on the other side, it'll take about twenty minutes to get to where everyone..." his voice died on his lips as he stared at the shambling forms of **Them** slinking out of the tree-line with gargling hisses. He felt the blood drain from his face as he whipped around to look at Harii, his eyes traitorously dropping down to his ankle which was gingerly on the floor, no weight placed upon it, panic and something that horribly felt like helplessness burned and tasted like bile in the back of his throat.

"Let's go, quickly," Harii hissed, grabbing his arm and placing a finger over his lips, awkwardly limping his way down the Shrine steps and onto the grounds. Takashi was fairly sure his heart was in his throat as he followed swiftly after the older male, adrenaline _burning_ throughout his body as he prepared to grab him and hightail it out of the Shrine grounds as fast as he physically could.

But **They** didn't react, didn't notice them as they slowly made their way past.

Harry paused at the top of the stairs, glaring down at them in disgust, it was easier to quietly go up a flight of stairs with a sprained ankle than go down it, if he wanted to keep quiet and do it without agitating his injury he would have to sit down and slide to the bottom on his ass like a little kid. It didn't help that there were a few of those **Things** on the stairs as well. He looked over to Takashi who nodded at his unspoken request for some help, but obviously what Harry had in mind wasn't what he had in mind because the next thing he knew he was being lifted up clean off the floor like some kind of chick and it was only the close proximity of **Them** that prevented him from pitching a fit over the current situation.

Still, demeaning as it was, it had to be done.

He kept his mouth shut and restricted himself to one petulant glower at the younger teenager before concentrating on being very still and quiet so he could manoeuvre them down the stairs and past **Them** without triggering a mass exodus.

Takashi managed to prevent any of **Them** noticing their retreat but the second they hit street-level Harii was squirming to be released and it took an extremely concentrated effort not to pay attention to how he very nearly came to hugging the smaller male as he allowed him to slip to the ground, still taking most of his weight until he got his good foot under him. Nodding to show that he was fine, the two of them set off at a surprisingly swift pace towards the Taiei Shopping Town, Harii limping along in a strange almost skipping like way that told Takashi that he was used to being forced to move quickly with an injured leg or side, that kind of pain tolerance and mobility was something that experience could only bring.

He only hoped the others had been successful in getting to the Shopping Centre, he wasn't certain that Harii would be able to dodge **Them** and get to Rei's house without something terrible happening.

* * *

Kohta sighed, biting his lip, idly chewing on it, stripping away a layer of skin as he peered through his binoculars in the hopes of catching sight of Komuro and Harii heading over. Last night had been a real trial to get to sleep and his whole body was sore and aching from sleeping on a cold hard floor, not to mention the draft that blew across the back of his neck now making him all stiff and uncomfortable. Shizuka-sensei was downstairs with Busujima-senpai trying to do something about the swordswoman's own stiff and aching muscles, they couldn't afford to have her at anything less than one-hundred percent combat affective. Alice-chan was fine, suffering from no ill effects unlike everyone else because Mamoru had effectively been her mattress last night, using his jacket as a blanket to keep her warm and comfortable. The downside now was that he was in the worst state out of everyone and could be heard grumbling every now and again in discomfort when he moved limbs in certain ways. It was really beginning to annoy Rei and Saya who they'd retreated up to the roof with him to keep a look out for their missing Party Members.

Either way, Kohta needed to talk to Komuro about what to do with the guns, they couldn't let any of the other survivors see them, there were a limited number of shells and magazines, everyone would want to use them to clear the area of **Them** and they just didn't have the resources for that.

A strange movement caught his eye, frowning he concentrated on the figures approaching.

"There they are!" he exclaimed, calling both Saya-sama and Rei-san over to him. "Komuro looks fine but Harii-san's hurt, go and get Shizuka-sensei!" the gun-fanatic ordered.

Rei nodded and immediately ran off, darting down the stairwell and to where she recalled the foodcourt was, "Shizuka-sensei!" she called, ignoring the fact that she had just walked in on Busujima-senpai topless getting her shoulders massaged with what looked to be a deepheat oil, "Takashi and Harii are here but Harii's hurt," she explained breathlessly.

"Oh no!" the blonde doctor lamented, quickly wiping the excess oil from Busujima-senpai's shoulders, "We'll finish this later Busujima-san," the nurse told her, using a bowl and a bottle of mineral water to wash her hands.

Saeko shook her head, "No, this was more than enough, thank you Shizuka-sensei. Will you need any help with Harii-kun?" she asked, shrugging into her shirt and buttoning it up, absently rolling her shoulders making Rei stare, fascinated by the shifting of muscle under her oiled white skin.

"I should be fine but thank you for the offer," the blonde assured her before quickly jogging out of the food court, "Which entrance way will they go for, Miyamoto-san?" she asked.

"I don't know, but they were coming from the same direction as the Park so I would say... _this_ one!" the chestnut haired girl decided, whipping around a corner and coming up to a glass door, shouldering it open just in time to witness Takashi climb over one of the barriers, carrying Harii-san who was pale and sweating, shaking ever so slightly as he leaned against the Japanese teenager. "Takashi, quickly, get inside," Rei hissed, keeping her voice low so that **They** wouldn't hear her over the barriers.

Nodding, the brown eyed male picked up the dark haired teenager and carried him into the shopping centre, ignoring his half-hearted squirm of displeasure. "Shizuka-sensei," he greeted the blonde woman as she quickly hustled over, "Its his ankle, one of **Them** yanked it out from under him, we had to wrench it out pretty hard. But I think running here on it only made the injury worse," he explained as they quickly made their way to the foodcourt where the group slept the night before.

"Set him on one of the tables, I'll take a look. Busujima-san, I'm taking you up on that offer, could you go and see if you can scrounge me up some first aid equipment, you're familiar with sports injuries?" she asked, making the senior nod, "Look for things you would use on a sprained or twisted ankle and painkillers, raid the pharmacy and look for Codeine, Toradol, any powerful painkillers you can find, I'll sort through them later," the doctor listed, watching as the Kendo Captain nodded and swiftly darted out of the room with Rei-san on her heels, the two girls going on a medicine hunt while the Nurse turned back to her patient.

Takashi sat tensely in one of the chairs, sucking down a bottle of water that had been left in there as he watched the nurse check Harii's eyes, his pulse and temperature before moving down to his ankle. The short haired teenager flinched and cringed when the Foreigner cried out in pain as the blonde woman got to work, easing his shoe off as gently as she could but... Takashi felt his stomach turn when he got a look at just how swollen the other teenager's foot had gotten. It must have been _agony_ running here on that! Judging by the look on Shizuka-sensei's face, she was just as upset as he was as she went about peeling off the thick socks that Harry had put on for extra support and then unwound his rough make-shift bandages, revealing the swollen mottled black limb to the light of day.

"That's really bad," Hirano Kohta breathed, making Takashi tense, his heart hammering in his chest, he had been so caught up in Harii that he hadn't even noticed the heavier set teenager come up behind him. "It looks sprained at the very least," he continued, sounding both grim and sympathetic.

"Yeah. Running here didn't help it any either," he muttered in return.

"Komuro, I know this is the last thing you want to think of right now, but I need to talk to you about the guns," Kohta told him gently, placing a hand on his Classmate's shoulder, "Shizuka-sensei will be able to take care of Harii-san," he assured the other boy.

"I know." Sighing, Takashi got to his feet, feeling his bones creaking uncomfortably as he did so, giving Harii one last glance he turned and followed Kohta out of the foodcourt. "What's the problem?" he asked quietly.

"The people here. We've managed to keep the fact that we've got guns a secret from them but I'm not comfortable with the idea that they would even know about them. They're not as settled as Don Takagi's men are and we don't have the ammunition for them to go out and waste all of **Them** outside," he explained quietly, keeping an eye out for those aforementioned survivors, the last thing they needed was one of them overhearing and telling everyone else that they had high-calibre weapons and wanted to hide them.

Takashi nodded, frowning thoughtfully, "Agreed, and we can't just carry them around with us. We'll have to hide them."

"Where is the next question," Kohta said with a sigh as he looked around the shopping centre, "I have to wonder where the least looked at section of the store would be, at least for everyone that isn't in our group."

There was a pause before Takashi huffed slightly in laughter, grinning at Kohta, "I think I have an idea." The gun-fanatic looked at his classmate and an identical grin spread across his face.

"If its the same idea I just had then I am in total agreement with your Komuro-kun." The two boys gave equally perverted chuckles as they made their way to the lingerie section and looked for the least used section they could find, the J-L sized Bra Bin.

"Only someone with Shizuka-sensei sized boobs would dig through here," Takashi exclaimed, holding one of the blue ones up, it was seriously the size of his head, Kohta laughed and pushed it into his face.

"Stop sniffing ladies underwear Komuro," he teased as he began to dig through the lacy, silky sweet nothings to make a hollow for them to hide the guns. A split second later Kohta tumbled into it as Takashi gave him a sneaky judicious shove.

The two soon descended into typical childish behaviour as they just unwound for a little bit and acted their age – even if it involved playing like soldiers and using bras as head sets, flicking panties at one another from behind protective racks of underwear packets. Still, they calmed down long enough to put everything back to rights and hide the guns long before one of the survivors came to investigate the cause of the commotion, the two boys were long gone and giggling to themselves, completely forgetting about the bras on their heads and neither of them willing to tell the other because the reactions of everyone else would be hilarious.

Mamoru snorted when he saw them, "Why do you both have bras on your heads? I feel underdressed now. Where's mine?" he complained, making the other two fall about laughing as they quickly clawed the bras off their heads and tossed them aside into the mattress and sofa store.

"Well," the group turned in surprise as they heard Shizuka-sensei's voice behind them, "You'll be pleased to know that Harii-chan's ankle _isn't_ sprained," she declared, making both Takashi and Kohta sigh in relief and Mamoru's face to twist in concern and confusion, Takashi winced slightly, he had forgotten to tell the other teenager about their friend's injury, "Its a really bad twist and some deep tissue bruising, it should be all healed up within a week or so but until then he's going to have to be careful with that ankle." She pushed her hair out of her face and smiled at them, "He's pretty out of it right now with the painkillers I gave him but if you want you can go see him, just don't move the bag of frozen peas from his foot, they're there to take the swelling down."

"Thank you Shizuka-sensei," Takashi told her with an earnest smile.

The woman beamed, "I'm just glad to be able to help," she told him brightly.

* * *

Mamoru had decided to sit beside Harii first, leaving the rest of them to the orders of Takagi Saya who quickly organised them to scavenge food and supplies while she and the other girls went to go and freshen up, even if all that involved was using some water and tissues for a quick wipe down and changing into clean underwear for Rei and Saeko as they couldn't find any clothing that gave them proper manoeuvrability.

Harii was still a little muzzy but he was largely coherent, enough so that Mamoru had begun to teach him a little Japanese, the two of them sitting quietly and talking in a butchered mix of English, Engrish and Japanese, trying to form some kind of coherent language out of it.

Neither one of them had much of an idea what was going on with the rest of the group, Takashi and Kohta giving the Traffic Police girl, Asami, a police issue gun, the same one that Rei fished off a corpse during the period of separation before they met Mamoru, Harii and Alice-chan.

It was Shizuka-sensei's scream that caught their attention.

"Stay here!" Mamoru barked at the older boy as he darted out of the Food Court, baseball bat in hand as he sprinted for the Mattress and bed seller, his eyes widening as he spotted a man with a knife stood over Rika-chan's hot girlfriend. He ignored the girl in the Police uniform as she trotted towards them, probably running as fast as she could but either way, Mamoru was already behind the bastard and swinging his bat.

Shizuka squealed in fright, cringing back against the headboard of the bed she had been shoved down on as the solid aluminium weapon impacted against the larger man's side, throwing him to the ground with a roar of pain and sending the knife in his had flying up where it stuck in the ceiling via the blade.

"Are you alright, Shizuka-san?" he asked the blonde woman, eyeing her over, no bruises but she looked distinctly ruffled, her sweater was slightly stretched and her jeans showed a distinct sign of being pawed over, "He didn't get too far did he?" the blond teenager asked.

Mutely, the woman shook her head, her eyes watery as she trembled slightly in the bedding.

"You little bastard!" the man snarled, hauling himself up with murder in his eyes.

"Aahn?" Mamoru growled, sneering down at the bastard who dared to lay his hands on not only one of Mamoru's friends but on Rika-chan's girlfriend, it was almost sickeningly easy to fall back into his old speech patterns, to act like the Delinquent he used to be before everything went so very wrong, "Give me a reason," he hissed, pointing the bat at the older man, "Give me a reason, you scum sucking rat bastard, to crack your head open like an egg, like one of those inhuman freaks out there. Give me a reason," he seethed furiously, "Anyone who lays their hands on a woman who isn't willing doesn't deserve to be human, so tell me, why should I treat you like one of us instead of one of **Them**?" he demanded, an ugly look written across his face as the man in front of him refused to back down.

Until Kohta appeared behind him with a wire that looped over his neck and dug in harshly, garrotting him.

"You finished?" the teenager asked, smiling brightly to Mamoru who nodded gruffly and lowered the bat before darting to Shizuka-sensei's side to help her up. "Its futile," Kohta told the man as he tried to claw himself free from the wire wrapped around his neck, "Its digging into your skin so you won't be able to get it out," he explained breezily, as if this were something he did every day, which to the people around him, he just might. "So, what _are_ you going to do now?" he asked cheerfully, ignoring or just not noticing the man gagging for air, "Are you going to listen to us, follow the Police Lady's orders and be a good boy... or am I going to have to kill you?" he asked absently, smiling in a vacant way that sent chills down the spines of all present.

The man dropped to his knees and Kohta took that as an acceptance, unlooping the wire from his neck he roughly kicked the man aside and stepped over him, "Let's go. I'm not comfortable leaving the girls alone anymore, especially Alice and Takagi-san," he told Takashi seriously.

"Agreed," Mamoru grunted, shooting a glare a the bastard on the floor who was quickly being restrained by Saeko-san, "Let's get Shizuka-sensei away from him first, I left Harii in the food hall, we can all meet up there," he suggested.

Takashi nodded and took Shizuka-sensei away from the scene, his stomach flip-flopping in worry when all she did was shake and meekly follow him, rubbing her arms and pulling her clothes tightly around her like a shield. Following along behind was Kohta and Mamoru who had stopped briefly to grab some blankets from a different bed, when they reached the food court, Harii was sitting up with Alice-chan beside him, watching the happenings with wide and concerned eyes as Takashi helped Shizuka to a seat and Mamoru quickly set up a bed for her as she was so tired.

"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye out, no one'll be able to touch you," the blond delinquent promised the older woman who smiled weakly and crawled into the bedding, curling up immediately and dropping off to sleep, trusting the men in her life to keep her safe.

"Bad thing, what?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing on Mamoru who scratched the back of his head uncomfortably under the foreigner's gaze.

"Someone attacked Shizuka-sensei," Takashi explained quietly as the girls made their way over.

"Rape?" Harry hissed, a furious snarl crossing his features that nearly made Takashi take a step back in shock, he didn't think he had _ever_ seen Harii that angry. He looked like he was about to go after the guy who tried and rip him apart, injured or not.

"He didn't get that far, and he certainly won't be trying it again," Kohta told him firmly as the group pulled over several chairs so they could talk and keep an eye on Shizuka-sensei without disturbing her, Zeke curling up at the end of her 'bed' as a guard.

"How long are we going to be staying here?" Rei demanded, her voice high and tight with suppressed fear and anger.

At this point, Harii tuned them out as Rei pitched a fit about being in close quarters with a rapist and the group discussed where to go from there and how to possibly get electronic equipment that would still work, using a little water he took some more of the pain killers and relaxed as the painful throbbing of his ankle died down to a dull roar once again, there was nothing he could really do to contribute and he couldn't even understand the majority of what was being said. Best keep out of it so he didn't sound stupid or even more like deadweight than he already was. He sighed quietly and adjusted the bag of peas on his foot, they were helping but he couldn't help but realise that things like ice-packs would be a thing of the past soon enough, it was mid April and summer was on its way, with the Power out ice was going to be a thing of the past and food was going to spoil fast.

He hummed as he looked over his companions, they were still... naïve to their circumstances.

They had come to terms that things had changed, that they had to change with them to survive, they hadn't closed their eyes to the horror like so many other people and they weren't depending on the Government or the Police for help, they were working through it themselves. _However_, it still hadn't really struck them that this was going to be a long term global catastrophe, this wasn't going to go away, they were probably going to have to deal with the Walking Dead their whole lives, teach their children how to defend themselves from **Them**, from other survivors who hadn't handled the pressure of the End of Days quite so well, and snapped, becoming even more dangerous than **They** ever were.

Perhaps he was being overly anxious, or just a paranoid son of a bitch, but he couldn't stop himself from planning for the worst and for a long term occupation. They needed to find shelter, space for farming and food, a fresh water supply within a sensible distance, somewhere defensible and safe to raise families, it would take time and building and supplies, but once they'd set it all up, established some kind of ruling Council, they could open the gates and allow other survivors in, build a small society that was safe from the Undead.

An old Castle and compound in England would have been _ideal_ for such a thing, he hoped Hermione and the others made it to one and started their own safe community, Hermione was smart enough to keep it going and Blaise was cunning enough to keep it safe, add the Weasley family for muscle and defence, Cedric for charisma in calming others down and keeping the peace and you had something that was truly fearsome in terms of survival. Draco Malfoy might not be much use in the beginning but when he regained that fire of his, got himself a comfortable position, Harry would have suggested him for the head of the Police, then he would be utterly ruthless, cunning and cold when it came to doing what he had to do. The British teenager sighed, he really wished he was back home facing this apocalypse with them than here with these... children and their relationship drama that for some reason was more important than the Walking Dead.

An old Japanese estate might be a good idea, they would have to fortify it, make it defensible and protected, also set a perimeter which they could use to make sure that people could come and go from the compound without getting accosted by **Them**.

He twitched slightly as Takashi began to order people off to go and collect things, Harry was going to stay with Shizuka-sensei who was sleeping quite soundly by this point, she really needed it so they weren't going to disturb her until it was time to leave. Mamoru left him with his aluminium bat and Saeko appeared with several kitchen knives from the eatery to defend himself and Shizuka-sensei with should anything untoward happen – they weren't going to make the mistake of trusting anyone in this place again.

Good on them, Harry thought as he sat back beside Shizuka-san with his assorted weaponry, leg raised up on some pillows that Mamoru fetched for him before leaving, frozen peas in place. The sooner they learned that people were more dangerous than **Them** the better Harry would be able to sleep in the future.

* * *

**And thus we have Episode Seven: Dead End.**

**Sorry for taking so long to update but Real Life simultaneously decided to kick my ass and give me cookies, XDD;; I shan't get into details. **

**Reviewers shall receive their own J-cup bra and lingerie set as styled by Takashi and Kohta ;D**

_Also, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that I have made multiple updates as an apology for taking so long to update. Also, on my profile will be a link to a Webcomic I am working on. It should update weekly and its called __Annen Rute__ for those of you who follow me on DeviantART, I will tell you now that I'm redoing the Prologue and redesigning several characters, I'm doing my research properly and I've been studying HTML and CSS in order to make the website look as good as possible. Sadly, not been having much luck, SO, if anyone is any good at that, I would love to hear from you. XDD Drop me a PM or an e-mail or message me on Facebook. I will pay you in Fanart ;D_


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